The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The team is headquartered in Bank of America Stadium in Uptown Charlotte; which also serves as the team's home field. The Panthers are supported throughout the Carolinas; although the team has played its home games in Charlotte since 1996, it played its home games at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina, during its first season in 1995.
The Panthers were announced as the league's 29th franchise in 1993 and began playing in 1995 under the original owner and founder Jerry Richardson.[11] The Panthers played well in their first two years, finishing 7–9 in 1995 (an all-time best for an NFL expansion team's first season) and 12–4 the following year, winning the NFC West before ultimately losing to the eventual Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game. They did not have another winning season until 2003 when they won the NFC Championship Game and reached Super Bowl XXXVIII, losing 32–29 to the New England Patriots. After recording playoff appearances in 2005 and 2008, the team failed to record another playoff appearance until 2013, the first of three consecutive NFC South titles. After losing in the divisional round to the San Francisco 49ers in 2013 and the Seattle Seahawks in 2014, the Panthers returned to the Super Bowl in 2015 but lost to the Denver Broncos. Since then, the team has appeared in the playoffs only once, in 2017. The team's five NFC South titles since the division's establishment in 2002 rank second only to the New Orleans Saints.
As of 2024, the Carolina Panthers remain the newest club in the NFC, excluding the Seahawks who were founded in 1976 but moved to the NFC in 2002. The franchise is legally registered as Panther Football, LLC.[12] and are controlled by David Tepper, whose purchase of the team from founder Jerry Richardson was unanimously approved by league owners on May 22, 2018. The club, which Forbes valued at approximately US$2.3 billion in 2018,[13] is estimated at $4.1 billion by it in 2023.[14]
On December 15, 1987, entrepreneur Jerry Richardson announced his bid for an NFL expansion franchise in the Carolinas.[2] A North Carolina native, Richardson was a former wide receiver on the Baltimore Colts who had used his 1959 league championship bonus to co-franchise the first Hardee's restaurant in Spartanburg, SC, eventually expanding to a chain of franchises as co-founder of Spartan Food Systems before becoming president and CEO of Flagstar.[15][16] Richardson drew his inspiration to pursue an NFL franchise from George Shinn, who had made a successful bid for an expansion National Basketball Association (NBA) team in Charlotte, the Charlotte Hornets. Richardson founded Richardson Sports, a partnership consisting of himself, his family, and a number of businessmen from North and South Carolina who were also recruited to be limited partners.[17] Richardson looked at four potential locations for a stadium, ultimately choosing uptown Charlotte.
To highlight the demand for professional football in the Carolinas, Richardson Sports held preseason games around the area from 1989 to 1991. The first two games were held at Carter–Finley Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, while the third and final game was held at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina. The matchups were between existing NFL teams. In 1991, the group formally filed an application for the open expansion spot, and on October 26, 1993, the 28 NFL owners unanimously named the Carolina Panthers as the 29th member of the NFL.[2] In the 1995 NFL Draft, the Panthers selected quarterback Kerry Collins out of Penn State with their first ever draft selection.[18]
The Panthers first competed in the 1995 NFL season; they were one of two expansion teams to begin playing that year, the other being the Jacksonville Jaguars.[19][20][21] The Panthers were put in the NFC West to increase the size of that division to five teams; there were already two other southeastern teams in the division, the Atlanta Falcons and the New Orleans Saints.[22] Former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Dom Capers was named the first head coach.[23] The Panthers played their first regular season game in Week 1 of the 1995 season. The team fell to the Atlanta Falcons 23–20 in overtime.[24] After a 0–5 start, with three close losses, the Panthers won their first game in franchise history, a 26–15 win over the New York Jets.[25] The team finished its inaugural season 7–9, the best performance ever from a first-year expansion team.[21] They performed even better in their second season, finishing with a 12–4 record and winning the NFC West division, as well as securing a first-round bye.[26][27] The Panthers beat the defending Super Bowl champions Dallas Cowboys in the divisional round 26–17 [28] before losing the NFC Championship Game to the eventual Super Bowl champions, the Green Bay Packers 30–13.[29] The team managed only a 7–9 finish in 1997 and slipped to 4–12 in 1998, leading to Capers' dismissal as head coach.[26][30][31]
The Panthers hired former San Francisco 49ers head coach George Seifert to replace Capers, and he led the team to an 8–8 record in 1999.[32][33] The team finished 7–9 in 2000 and fell to 1–15 in 2001, winning their first game but losing their last 15.[34][35] This performance tied the NFL record for most losses in a single season, and it broke the record held by the winless 1976 Buccaneers for most consecutive losses in a single season (both records have since been broken by the 2008 Lions), leading the Panthers to fire Seifert.[36] One highlight from the loss-ridden 2001 season was the drafting of future franchise wide receiver Steve Smtih Sr. He was a third-round selection in the 2001 NFL draft by the team.[37]
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After the NFL's expansion to 32 teams in 2002, the Panthers were relocated from the NFC West to the newly created NFC South division.[38] The Panthers' rivalries with the Falcons and Saints were maintained, and they would be joined by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.[39] The Panthers had the second overall pick in the 2002 NFL Draft. The team selected future Hall of Fame defensive end Julius Peppers out of North Carolina.[40] New York Giants defensive coordinator John Fox was hired to replace Seifert[41] and led the team to a 7–9 finish in 2002.[42] Although the team's defense gave up very few yards, ranking the second-best in the NFL in yards conceded, they were hindered by an offense that ranked as the second-worst in the league in yards gained.[43]
Prior to the 2003 season, the team signed quarterback Jake Delhomme.[44] The Panthers improved to 11–5 in the 2003 regular season, winning the NFC South.[45] The Panthers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 29–10 in the Wild Card Round, the St. Louis Rams 29–23 in the Divisional Round, and the Philadelphia Eagles 14–3 in the NFC Championship.[46][47][48] They advanced to Super Bowl XXXVIII before losing to the New England Patriots, 32–29.[49] The game was immediately hailed by sportswriter Peter King as the "Greatest Super Bowl of all time". King felt the game "was a wonderful championship battle, full of everything that makes football dramatic, draining, enervating, maddening, fantastic, exciting" and praised, among other things, the unpredictability, coaching, and conclusion.[50] The game is still viewed as one of the best Super Bowls of all time,[51][52][53][54] and in the opinion of Charlotte-based NPR reporter Scott Jagow, the Panthers' Super Bowl appearance represented the arrival of Charlotte onto the national scene.[55]
Following a 1–7 start in 2004, the Panthers rebounded to win six of their last seven games despite losing 14 players for the season due to injury.[56] They lost their last game to New Orleans, finishing the 2004 season at 7–9.[57] Had they won the game, the Panthers would have made the playoffs.[58] The team improved to 11–5 in 2005, finishing second in the division behind Tampa Bay and clinching a playoff berth as a wild card.[59] In the first round of the playoffs, the Panthers went on the road to face the New York Giants, beating them 23–0 for the NFL's first playoff shutout against a home team since 1980.[60] The following week, they beat Chicago 29–21 on the road, but lost key players Julius Peppers, a defensive end, and DeShaun Foster, a running back, who were both injured during the game.[61] The Panthers were then defeated 34–14 by the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game, ending their season.[62] Although the Panthers went into the 2006 season as favorites to win the NFC South and the free agent signing of Keyshawn Johnson,[63] they finished with a disappointing 8–8 record.[64] The team finished the 2007 season with a 7–9 record after losing quarterback Jake Delhomme early in the season due to an elbow injury.[65]
In 2008, the Panthers rebounded with a 12–4 regular season record, winning the NFC South and securing a first round bye. They were eliminated in the divisional round of the playoffs, losing 33–13 to the eventual NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals after Delhomme turned the ball over six times.[66] Delhomme's struggles carried over into the 2009 season, where he threw 18 interceptions in the first 11 games before breaking a finger in his throwing hand.[67] The Panthers were at a 4–7 record before Delhomme's season-ending injury,[68] and his backup, Matt Moore, led the team to a 4–1 finish to the season for an 8–8 overall record.[69] In 2010, after releasing Delhomme in the offseason, the Panthers finished with a league-worst (2–14) record; their offense was the worst in the league.[70][71] John Fox's contract expired after the season ended, and the team did not retain him or his staff.[72]
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