CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Perhaps it was no coincidence that during football season in Charlotte, it rained.
Not only did the Carolina Panthers suffer through the elements, so did their new owner, David Tepper.
The Panthers are one of only six NFL teams that don’t have an on-site, indoor practice facility of any kind.
“I'll be very surprised if we're not playing indoors before the end of next summer for practice,” Tepper told reporters in November.
Tepper, who says the Panthers will build a temporary practice bubble in 2019, chose his words and where he stopped them carefully.
And so did South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster at his recent inauguration when discussing economic competition, saying: “We will not fumble the football."
Tepper was reportedly on McMaster’s inauguration committee.
Tepper has harped on “One Carolina,” indicating South Carolina will be part of the Carolina Panthers.
They could soon be a big part of it. Perhaps the team’s official headquarters and practice facility aside from Sundays on Mint Street.
Several months ago, Panthers play-by-play voice Mick Mixon let some details slip at a York Co., Chamber of Commerce meeting.
“What if I told you that a couple of hundred acres somewhere near here is going to be purchased very soon."
York County Councilman Michael Johnson wasn’t at that meeting but: "It wasn't ten minutes after it ended I started getting phone calls. He set off a firestorm of conversation in this area,” he said.
Johnson represents District 1, which includes the old Knights baseball stadium site in Fort Mill, which now seems to be a prime location for the team’s new facility. He doesn’t know of the Panthers plans, but he and the county would welcome them.
"If it's a good fit for the Panthers, York County is more than happy to have them come,” he said.
The site does seem to fit the Panthers well. All told, it’s about 300 acres, and that’s more than enough. The Minnesota Vikings new practice facility sits on about 200 acres, room for a team headquarters, and surrounding development.
At the Super Bowl in Atlanta, Mark Carter, principal architect at Tvsdesign, which designed the Falcons’ Mercedes Benz Stadium, told NBC Charlotte most new facilities are geared towards development.
Dallas’ facility – The Star – features an entire entertainment district filled with dozens of shops and restaurants.
Minnesota’s new facility, which like Dallas’ sits over 20 miles away from the team’s stadium, will soon offer the same.
“It’s really trying to now make it a part of a much bigger idea,” Carter said. “It’s all the team becoming the entertainment star, if you will, to draw everyone there.”
In Fort Mill, it could offer more than that.
"Hopefully if the Panthers come, light rail will follow,” he said, “and that is a huge issue here in York County"
The county has sought a light rail extension for years, but that comes with a $1.2 billion price tag.
Perhaps a new Panthers development would provide an assist.
And in return, Erik Spanberg of the Charlotte Business Journal says South Carolina can offer the Panthers heavy financial and tax incentives.
"South Carolina has tended to be much more aggressive when it comes to corporate incentives of any kind. And then you throw in the cache of being able to have an NFL team based in your state,” he said.
“I think all of that makes it very attractive to politicians in South Carolina. That's why many are suspecting that they will ultimately get the Panthers headquarters," Spanberg added.