Menu
Franchises

NFL Panthers Dispute Profitability Numbers In Leaked Documents

The NFL Panthers on Thursday said that the team “made $66.5 million during the 2010 and 2011 seasons, after an audit of the team was published” by Deadspin, according to a front-page piece by Steve Harrison of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. The audit showed that the team’s “net income for those two seasons was just under $100 million,” and a net income of “nearly $72 million for the year ending in March 2011, after the team went 2-14.” The Panthers said that the team’s profitability “is much lower,” and its “cash flow -- before taxes -- for those two seasons was $66.5 million.” The Panthers said the figures are an “isolated snapshot … during an unusual time as the NFL lockout loomed.” The team said that it had “purposefully reduced spending before a labor agreement with players was reached.” The Panthers said that the “audit shows how difficult it is to compete in the NFL while also trying to undertake a large renovation of their stadium.” The team is seeking “more than" $200M in public funds to renovate Bank of America Stadium. The audit “doesn’t cover the most recent season.” It said the team made $112M in “income from operations in 2011 and 2012.” The team had $14.7M in “interest expense” those two years, reducing its net income to $97.3M. The audit said the team’s “net cash” from operations was $26.7M in ‘11 and $39.8M for the fiscal year ending in March ‘12. During that same year, the Panthers’ “total revenue" was $254M. That includes the team’s “share of the national television and radio contract," along with $47M from NFL Ventures (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 3/8).

ON THE SURFACE: Univ. of Oregon business professor Dennis Howard said, "These franchises are a license to print money. This team is pretty damn healthy." Howard estimated that under the terms of the league’s TV deal, the Panthers “could bring in an additional $60-$65 million in annual TV revenue alone.” DEADSPIN’s Tommy Craggs in the original report noted the Panthers last fall “began drawing up plans for renovating Bank of America Stadium.” The Panthers “figured renovations would cost $300 million, $200 million of which, they'd hoped, would come out of the public till.” The city of Charlotte “has been eager to help, to the tune of $144 million.” But the state of North Carolina “thus far has been less accommodating, and with good reason.” Howard in an e-mail wrote, "Based on the team's financial condition, there is absolutely no justification for such a large public subsidy" (DEADSPIN.com, 3/7).

ON THE FLIP SIDE: In Charlotte, Tom Sorensen writes the revelation “might be business as usual in the NFL,” but fans “don't know how much other teams make.” In Panthers Owner Jerry Richardson’s “defense, he's entitled to make money.” He had “hoped to invest $300 million and make middle-aged Bank of America Stadium, one of the NFL's best, less old,” with $200M “from the city and state, $100 million from the Panthers.” Although Charlotte's investment “makes sense economically, the pressure on Mayor Anthony Foxx and the city council to assess their commitment will be enormous.” It is “not about truth.” It is about the “appearance of truth.” Sorensen: “How do the Panthers ask people who on a big day might have $112 in their wallet to support a team that, in a two year span, allegedly made $112 million?” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 3/8).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2013/03/08/Franchises/Panthers.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2013/03/08/Franchises/Panthers.aspx

CLOSE