Jerry Richardson Stadium has been UNCC's football home since the program’s '13 inceptionUNIV. OF NORTH CAROLINA - CHARLOTTE
UNC Charlotte Dir of Issues Management & External Relations Buffie Stephens said the topic of whether or not the school's football stadium will continue to bear the name of former Panthers Owner Jerry Richardson is "being discussed, but there is no news at this moment," according to David Scott of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. It appears UNCC has "no ability to change the name of Jerry Richardson Stadium," the team's home since the program’s '13 inception. The naming-rights contract, dated May 14, 2013, "outlines the financial terms of the agreement between Richardson and the school." There is "no morals clause in the contract that prohibits certain behavior by either of the parties." It also states: “The stadium name and field name (McColl-Richardson Field) will be used as primary identifiers in perpetuity for the life of the football complex including any expansions and additions to the complex." Under the contract’s terms, Richardson agreed to make a $10M donation, "payable in 10 annual increments" of $1M from '13 through '22. That leaves "four remaining payments." Meanwhile, new Panthers Owner David Tepper said last week he was "contractually obligated" to keep a 13-foot tall statue of Richardson outside Bank of America Stadium. Richardson has also "made numerous major financial contributions to his alma mater of Wofford." The school’s new basketball arena is "called Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 7/19).
BETTER NAME? In Louisville, Tim Sullivan notes Univ. of Louisville officials expect to "eventually rechristen the school’s football stadium, but they have ruled out reversing last week’s decision" to remove the Papa John's name. UL Dir of Media Relations, Communications & Marketing Specialist John Karman said, "The decision is made and it’s final." With more than 21 years remaining on UL's contractual commitment, university President Neeli Bendapudi may have "left the school vulnerable to litigation by unilaterally removing the name of the stadium’s corporate sponsor." UL AD Vince Tyra said, "At some point we’ll have a conversation with him [Papa John's Founder John Schnatter] about that more specifically, (but) it was not the highest of priorities when I spoke to him on Thursday morning. And I wasn’t anxious to push that topic at that point. Then, on Friday, obviously, the decision was made." He added, "At some point, we’ll have a conversation. I don’t expect it to be an acrimonious one. But we’ll have a conversation about it" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 7/19).
