Panthers Issue Statement in Response to Deadspin Report

[MadHatter]

Blank is paying $800m while Atlanta would be on the hook for $200m

Atlanta paying $200m to replace a stadium that the city/ state already paid for with tax dollars vs. Charlotte being asked for $144m for renovations on s stadium that the tax monies DID NOT pay for.

Anyone who can't see the financial and logical difference in these two situations is hopeless

[Delhommey]

Both are owners using emotional leverage to squeeze local governments for handouts for their own personal gain.

It's not as bad as how bad Mike Brown and the Bengals fleeced Hamilton County, at least.

[Darth Biscuit]

The biscuit can has been popped.

Hey! ;)

[MadHatter]

Both are owners using emotional leverage to squeeze local governments for handouts for their own personal gain.

It's not as bad as how bad Mike Brown and the Bengals fleeced Hamilton County, at least.

I am not debating whether public funds should go to support private businesses...that is another debate entirely. City and state governments subsidize every major corporation that they are trying to lure or keep in their tax jurisdiction.

I am just pointing out that the total gov't funding for the renovated Panthers Stadium (if the proposal were expected) is HUGELY less than the amount that Atlanta has pumped into the existing and newly proposed stadiums......because someone brought up Atlanta as an example of something that was better.

[Zod]

Anyone else think if the Panthers were a good football team that this would not even be an issue locally?

[Panthro]

Nope.

I do wish he approached winning with the same vigor he does the business side of the franchise

[jtm]

I'm actually surprised that they don't make more, but private companies are tricky because they usually don't disclose salaries. JR could be paying himself 5 mil a year then collecting profits. Frankly, I have no problem with the numbers and how he used them to his advantage b

[Louie]

Anyone else think if the Panthers were a good football team that this would not even be an issue locally?

I think that statement is 100% on the money. The city and the state, for that matter, would probably be bending over backwards to give them money if the Panthers were on the same level as New England, NYG, or Baltimore.

[MHS831]

What cracks me up about this is the number of people who instantly form an opinion of this matter before knowing the facts. Here are a few facts:

The biggest concern I had with the PSL concept was that it would lock in the season ticket holders. What motivation would they have to win if they did not have to worry about selling 70,000 tickets every year? Would they use the small market as an excuse to stay at the cap floor instead of the ceiling?

Except for the lockout, and JR was wise to do what he did then (we should have come out a big winner, but Marty went stupid with the windfall), the Panthers are always at the top of the league in cap spending--they still are.

People called JR cheap and still do. JR's biggest flaw was not firing Marty Hurney when he let Fox go. Marty has always been the problem here.

Deadspin threw out a misleading article that could hurt the Panthers' chances of getting a fair deal here. Sure, the Panthers profit here--they should. They assume the risk of the investment. And yes, the local businesses who prosper from the Panther organization and the stadium should be taxed--not the businesses in Raleigh or Columbia.

The Panthers have done more for Charlotte than any amount of tax money could create. Make the parasites pay their fair share. Stop blaming the team that invests about a quarter of a billion $$ each year for turning a profit.

[MHS831]

double

[Anybodyhome]

1. So... the Panthers essentially admit to tanking the 2010 season, opting to label it "team had strategically reduced its spending."

2. Since selling my PSLs, I no longer care about how "profitable" the Panthers may or may not be. What I'd really like to know is just how much taxes they pay. If they make $120M or $1M it means nothing to Charlotte unless they're paying their share of taxes.

[SCP]

1. So... the Panthers essentially admit to tanking the 2010 season, opting to label it "team had strategically reduced its spending."

2. Since selling my PSLs, I no longer care about how "profitable" the Panthers may or may not be. What I'd really like to know is just how much taxes they pay. If they make $120M or $1M it means nothing to Charlotte unless they're paying their share of taxes.

It was reported somewhere that they have paid +$600 million in taxes since '95. Or maybe not. I've been drinking.

[CLEARHOT]

In a larger context the US gives billions of your federal tax dollars to "our good friends" in Pakistan. I wouldn't get y'all s panties in wad over an extra 35 cents for a cheeseburger and a beer the next time your in Charlotte if it helps upgrade our stadium.

http://www.reuters.c...E73K7F420110421

[Niner National]

1. So... the Panthers essentially admit to tanking the 2010 season, opting to label it "team had strategically reduced its spending."

2. Since selling my PSLs, I no longer care about how "profitable" the Panthers may or may not be. What I'd really like to know is just how much taxes they pay. If they make $120M or $1M it means nothing to Charlotte unless they're paying their share of taxes.

The city doesn't see any money from the Panthers profit. The city doesn't have a local income tax. Any income tax the Panthers pay would be to the state and federal government.

City is funded by property taxes. The Panthers paid $1,713,434.46 to the city on January 3, 2013.

They have paid between $1.7 and $2 million in property taxes every year for at least the last 9 years. The database does not go back any further than that. Not sure if that means it wasn't digitized prior to 2004 or if the Panthers didn't pay property tax prior to 2004.

The city owns the land the stadium sits on, which is valued at about $62.5 million, but the city obviously doesn't pay taxes to itself and the Panthers don't have to pay tax on land they are leasing.

The city values the stadium at around $134,000,000, although I don't know how they arrive at that number.

The city also collects hotel tax revenue, car rental tax revenue, and tax from prepared meals. The amount to which the Panthers contribute to that would be very difficult to accurately quantify, but I think it would be fair to say that it is significantly higher than the amount of property tax they pay each year.