Paul Janus - Stadium and Practice Facilities

Stadium and Practice Facilities

In their first year of play, the Panthers played at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina, as the Panthers stadium in uptown Charlotte was still under construction. Ericsson Stadium, now called Bank of America Stadium, opened in summer 1996. The stadium was privately financed by the Panthers, with the Panthers paying $248 million dollars for the stadium construction and Charlotte paying $60 million for "land and infrastructure developments". In February 2013, the city of Charlotte tentatively agreed on a $250 million dollar improvement package for the stadium, half of which would have been paid by Charlotte and the other half of which would be paid by the State of North Carolina and the Panthers. This deal would have required the Panthers remain in Charlotte for the 15 years, and would have been funded by a 1 percent increase in Charlotte's food and beverage tax. This deal was contingent on the North Carolina State Legislature approving the increase, but neither the legislature nor governor Pat McCrory supported it. In April 2013, the Charlotte City Council unanimously approved a scaled-down $87.5 million dollar package, to be paid over six years with a six-year agreement from the Panthers to remain in Charlotte. The money will go to build escalators to help fans reach the stadium's upper deck, to buy new video boards for the stadium, and to improve the stadium's sound system.

Bank of America Stadium is owned entirely by the Panthers, making them one of the few teams in the NFL to own their stadium. The stadium was specially designed by HOK Sports Facilities Group for football and has a seating capacity of 73,778; it also serves as the headquarters and administrative office for the Panthers. It offers public tours for ten people or less on Wednesdays and Fridays as well as group tours for 11-100 people from Monday to Friday, charging a fee for either type. Six bronze panther statues flank the stadium's three main entrances – according to the Panthers, they are the largest statues ever commissioned in the United States. The names of the team's original permanent seat licence (PSL) owners are engraved on the base of each statue. The two people in the Panthers Hall of Honor, team executive Mike McCormack and linebacker Sam Mills, are both honored with life-sized bronze statues outside the stadium.

In addition to hosting Panthers home games, Bank of America Stadium has hosted other events. It annually hosts two college football games, the ACC Championship Game and the Belk Bowl. The stadium has also hosted international soccer friendlies, the NCAA Men's College Cup, and concerts. It was intended to host the final night of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, but the event was moved to nearby Time Warner Cable Arena instead, due to concerns of stormy weather.

During the team's 1995 season, the team practiced at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. The Panthers have three open-air practice fields next to Bank of America stadium. Because they, along with the stadium, are located in uptown Charlotte, the fields are directly visible from skyscrapers as well as from a four-story condominium located across the street. A running joke said that the Panthers' division rivals had pooled their resources to purchase a room on the building's top floor, and that a fire at the condominium was caused by the Panthers organization. In order to prevent people from seeing inside the field while the team is practicing, the team has added "strategically planted trees and a tarp over the ... fence surrounding the fields". Additionally, they employ a security team to watch and chase away any people that stop alongside the fence surrounding the field. In the event of bad weather, the team relocates their practices to an indoor sports facility about 10 miles from the stadium. The team does not own this facility. The team has hosted training camp at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina since 1995.