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Ron Rivera: Home game ‘will be good’ for the city of Charlotte

Ron Rivera

The streets of Charlotte may still be littered with protesters. Civil unrest remains the name of the game. Racial divisiveness and police brutality top the headlines.

This one city in the heart of North Carolina seems to represent the American psyche as a whole in 2016.

If there were ever a time for us to need an outlet, it’s now. That’s where the sports world, in particular football, can help.

At least, that’s the view of Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera. After initial reports broke Thursday that Sunday’s game in Charlotte against the Minnesota Vikings might be moved, the NFL confirmed that it’s still planning to hold the game as scheduled.

Rivera seems to agree with this decision.

“I think it will be good for the city,” Rivera said, via ESPN.com.

This sentiment was repeated by captain and veteran linebacker Thomas Davis, who shared his feelings on the league’s decision.

“This game absolutely should be played Sunday,” Davis said. “I look at football as a way to bring people together. I hope people know that violence is not the answer. It’s not the way to solve this problem.”

The hope here is that a game will bring the community together. The fear, of course, is that the civil unrest we’re seeing unfold in Charlotte will bleed into Bank of America Stadium come Sunday.

It’s in this that the Panthers are planning for an extra security presence for the outing against Minnesota. Then again, there’s also a potential this could lead to further conflicts between the citizenry and law enforcement officials.

As it is, both the Panthers and the NFL seemed to have made the right decision here. Cancelling a football game isn’t a way to create a sense of calm at a time when calm itself seems like a pipe dream.

Football is normalcy, and for at least three hours on Sunday, Charlotte will have that.

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