Carolina Panthers

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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) South division. They play their home games at Bank of America Stadium in Uptown Charlotte, which also houses the team's headquarters. The franchise represents both North Carolina and South Carolina; while its Charlotte stadium was under construction, the Panthers played their inaugural 1995 season at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina. The NFL awarded the Carolinas its 29th franchise in 1993, and the Panthers began play in 1995 under founder Jerry Richardson. They reached the NFC Championship Game in their second season. The Panthers have won seven division titles and two NFC championships, advancing to Super Bowl XXXVIII after the 2003 season and Super Bowl 50 after the 2015 season, losing both. The 2015 team finished 15–1, and quarterback Cam Newton was named the NFL's Most Valuable Player. In 2025, Carolina won the NFC South with an 8–9 record and returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2017, losing 34–31 to the Los Angeles Rams in the Wild Card Round. In December 2017, Richardson announced that he would sell the franchise amid allegations of workplace misconduct; the NFL assumed control of the investigation. An independent investigation later found evidence substantiating the allegations, and the NFL fined Richardson $2.75 million. The sale to David Tepper closed in July 2018.