Smith Family Interested In Possibly Buying Panthers; Still Trying To Land MLS Club

The Smith family that owns Speedway Motorsports Inc. is giving careful consideration to bidding on the NFL Panthers, but SMI CEO Marcus Smith also remains focused on trying to bring MLS to Charlotte, sources said. Smith and his father, SMI Exec Chair Bruton Smith, have publicly stated before that they could be interested in the Panthers were they ever to come up for sale, but the family has yet to speak since news broke Sunday that Panthers Owner Jerry Richardson would sell his 48% stake in the team amid the workplace misconduct allegations. Sources confirmed this week that the Smiths are indeed likely to consider getting involved in the bidding when that process begins after the NFL season. Charlotte missed out on this current round of MLS expansion efforts, but Smith remains interested in trying to bring a team to the city and was in Nashville this week for that city’s official MLS expansion announcement. SMI declined comment.