NFL Panthers Could Get Big Tax Break From New N.C. Bill

A new bill in the North Carolina legislature would give the Panthers a "big tax break on land the team leases from the city of Charlotte," according to a front-page piece by Peralta & Portillo of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. The measure comes about a month after David Tepper "agreed to buy the team." The Panthers "lease 34 acres from the city for $1 a year." But the team still "pays several hundred thousand dollars a year in property taxes on some of the value of that land, which includes the stadium and practice field." The Triple-A Int'l League Charlotte Knights, which "lease land from the county for BB&T Ballpark, could also save hundreds of thousands of dollars per year under the new measure." The bill would "exempt leaseholds for stadiums." The leaseholds are currently "taxed as intangible real property." The Knights paid $171,156 last year on the "value of the land they lease for BB&T Ballpark." Tax records show the Panthers paid $357,166 in '17 "property taxes on the land they lease" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 6/14).