If the next Panthers owner pushes for a new stadium, the agreement allows the game to remain in CharlotteGetty Images
The ACC has "reached a 10-year agreement with the Charlotte Sports Foundation" to keep its football title game at Bank of America Stadium through '30, according to Brendan Marks of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. The agreement "works as a 10-year extension to the parties' original deal." ACC Commissioner John Swofford said that discussions "had already begun" when Panthers Owner Jerry Richardson "announced his intentions to sell the team." Swofford added the ACC's relationship with Richardson and the Panthers "couldn't have been better, and neither side saw any reason to slow those discussions down." Marks notes the next Panthers owner "could potentially push for a new stadium." But Swofford said that part of the agreement "allows for the game to remain in Charlotte while simply switching" from BOA to "any new venue" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 4/6). In Charlotte, Ken Elkins noted attendance "exceeded 70,000" for the game's first seven editions in Charlotte. This "may be the sign that all things sports and economic development in North Carolina are tracking back to normal as the city celebrates the one-year anniversary of the partial repeal of House Bill 2" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 4/5).
