The Panthers may be on the verge of having a new owner soon. David Tepper is the frontrunner to succeed Jerry Richardson and buy the Charlotte, N.C.-based franchise, Joe Person, Katherine Peralta and Rick Rothacker of the Charlotte Observer report.
Tepper refuted an April report that he was out of the mix to make this acquisition, and it appears the hedge-fund billionaire is close to moving forward with this purchase. Worth approximately $11 billion, the 60-year-old Tepper has the most capital of any of the men vying to buy the team, per the Observer trio. Tepper’s finances being the least complicated aided his bid, per Person, Peralta and Rothacker, who add Tepper was back in Charlotte on Wednesday meeting with team officials.
This comes after another potential buyer, Ben Navarro, wanted to involve Peyton Manning as a part-owner. Alan Kestenbaum and Michael Rubin represented the other bidders for the team. Richardson’s son, Mark, put weight behind Navarro to be his father’s successor. However, Tepper now appears to be leading the race, with NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reporting Jerry Richardson has zeroed in on Tepper. Although, the Observer reporters caution this deal is not finalized.
Rapoport adds (via Twitter) Tepper wants to keep the Panthers in Charlotte. This deal could be ready to be approved by the next set of owners’ meetings in Atlanta later this month, per Rapoport, who also reports Tepper is the only one of these potential buyers who could be approved by the upcoming meetings. CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora writes he’d be “shocked” if Tepper wasn’t the next Panthers owner, adding this sale could be announced early next week.
The report indicating Tepper was out doesn’t appear to have been entirely off base, either, with La Canfora reporting Tepper has told confidants at multiple times during this process he was out. But evidently he’s back in and ready to finish the process. Additionally, La Canfora reports Manning was unlikely to join Navarro’s ownership group.
Since Tepper has been a part-owner of the Steelers since 2009, he also would not need to be approved by the NFL. Many NFL owners wanted Tepper to win this race, the New York Times reported in April.