The statue of disgraced former Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson that’s been in front of Bank of America Stadium is coming down.
Jerry Richardson Panthers statue being taken away from Bank of America stadium
Joe Bruno of WSOCTV in Charlotte shared pictures of a crew checking out the statue of Richardson, noting a flatbed truck was on site. Then, he confirmed that the statue is coming down.
What’s interesting here is that when David Tepper bought the Panthers in July of 2018, he said he was “contractually obligated” to keep the Richardson statue up at Bank of America Stadium.
Now comes a twist: According to Katie Peralta of Charlotte Agenda, the city of Charlotte owns the land that the Richardson statue is on, and the Panthers rent it for $1 per year.
Apparently, it’s being moved to “an undisclosed location due to ‘public safety concerns,” per Bruno.
Jerry Richardson left the Panthers in disgrace
The reason any of this is an issue, of course, is due to the reason Richardson had to sell the Panthers to Tepper in the first place. Back in December of 2017, Sports Illustrated released a bombshell of a report. In it, Richardson was accused of doling out huge settlements due to inappropriate office behavior, including sexual harassment and the use of a racial slur.
The NFL intervened, fining Richardson $2.75 million after the allegations were substantiated. Afterward, Richardson announced that he would sell the franchise. In July of 2018, Tepper bought the NFL franchise for the price of $2.275 billion — a record sale.
Richardson owned the Panthers from 1993 until selling to Tepper in 2018.