"Carolina Panthers president Danny Morrison said the team plans to begin renovations on
its 16-year-old stadium immediately after the 2013 NFL season and
estimates the project could take two years to complete. The master plan calls for between $261 million and $297 million in upgrades, according to Morrison. Charlotte's
City Council is backing a proposal to give the Panthers nearly $144
million from a food and beverage tax increase to pay for stadium
upgrades and the team is seeking more than $60 million in state funds." http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8941095/carolina-panthers-begin-stadium-renovation-2013-season
"The team's top four priorities are installing new escalators to carry
fans to the upper level ($28 million), video and ribbon boards and
sound system ($59 million), technology upgrades ($25 million) and
improving the stadium's infrastructure, including new seats ($62
million). Team officials also want to expand entry gates and ticket offices to
make it easier for fans to enter ($16 million), improve concourses ($35
million) and club and suite level ($29 million), and possibly add an
indoor practice facility ($30 million)." http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/02/11/2672875/panthers-break-down-stadium-improvement.html
There are homeless people living on the streets, shelters are at
capacity, unemployed parents are struggling to provide necessities for
their families, animal shelters need
funding for expansion and education due to all of the irresponsible pet
owners, college costs are so astronomical they're preventing people from
acquiring higher education, entire parts of the city are in various
levels of deterioration or dilapidation, the mental healthcare system
needs a complete overhaul, 17% of Second Harvest Food Bank of
Metrolina’s service area lives in poverty- including almost 209,000
children and seniors, the education system is a joke...I could go on
forever. All of this is prevalent not only in Charlotte, but the whole
state and country. I went to one Panther's game this past season and let
me tell you, the lackluster experience I had then had absolutely
nothing to do with the lack of escalators or my experience with the
entrance gates or sound system, and more to do with the fact the team is
garbage and like all stadiums, everything sold inside its walls is
overpriced. I have a sense of loyalty for the team since they represent
the Carolinas, but take them somewhere else if this stadium is just too
subpar to go on- oh, the humanity! The audacity of the city to raise
taxes (that could potentially hurt business at local bars and
restaurants) so they can give $144 million to a stadium for an
unnecessary face-lift instead of funneling the money to benefit the
citizens and improve the city beyond one structure is absolutely
atrocious, vile, disgusting, reprehensible, irresponsible, completely
lacking in common sense, and should- quite frankly- be illegal. THEN for
Richards to ask for an additional $62.5 million from the state is
absurdity. He may say he'll never move the Panthers from Charlotte, but
he's only obligated to stay here for the 15 years agreed upon in this
preposterous deal. If the Panther's can't make the "necessary" changes
with the $96 million they plan to contribute, maybe they can take a
little from the players' salaries or wait until they sell enough $9
lukewarm draft beers to cover the rest. Even better, Bruton Smith has
offered to buy the whole operation for the right price and even went so
far as to say, “I would commit to the city – and I would not ask for
money.” I think Richards has a bright future as a politician seeing as
how he has a complete misunderstanding of real issues deserving funding.
