MINNEAPOLIS -- NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said there could not be a stipulation to the new Panthers owner to keep the team in Charlotte, but did indicate the league would like to see the team stay put.
"Carolina is a great market," Goodell said Wednesday ahead of Super Bowl 52. "It's a market we would like to stay in."
While he wields a powerful voice, that decision will not be up to Goodell. If a new owner were to try and move the Panthers out of the Carolinas they would need three fourths of the league's owners to vote in favor of it.
That seems highly unlikely right now, but as we've seen recently with teams in San Diego, St. Louis and Oakland, that can change.
"The real issue will be if and when that time comes," said sports consultant Marc Ganis, president of Sportscorp, "how the community steps up, or if it doesn't."
There are 32 teams in the but Ganis is known in some league circles as the "33rd owner" because of his close ties with top executives like Jerry Richardson.
Ganis telling NBC Charlotte in Minneapolis that while a new owner likely won't ask for a new or improved stadium right away it's coming. And he says the team staying or leaving could hinge on the community coming through with a big chunk of public funding.
"If it does then I think it will be far more difficult for there to ever be a relocation vote," Ganis said. "If it does not, then that vote becomes perhaps different than what people might like. But I don't think we're anywhere near that situation."
Bank of America Stadium is just 22 years old, but now the 9th oldest stadium in the NFL. It did undergo hundreds of millions of dollars in renovations recently, $87.5 million of that paid for with taxpayer money.
Whoever buys the team might lean on Ganis for advice as many owners do. And here's what his would be.
"It's working, it's doing well. It's not broken," said Ganis. "You don't need to fix it. It's almost a dream to step in to. And that's what Jerry is selling right now."