Qualla: Bank of America Stadium

Bank of America Stadium: Introduction

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bz3rk, CC BY-SA 4.0. Six bronze panthers crouch at the entrances of an open-air bowl in Uptown Charlotte. Each is named "Indomitable Spirit," each weighs more than a car, and each has glowing green eyes that, at night, stare down the surrounding skyscrapers like cats with a grudge. They have been there since the stadium opened in 1996 as Ericsson Stadium, since it became Bank of America Stadium in 2004, since the Panthers won an NFC Championship inside it in January 2016 and lost a Super Bowl two weeks later. They will be there for whatever comes next - which, the team has hinted, may involve an $800 million renovation or a brand new building. Charlotte loves and replaces things at roughly the same rate.

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Image: Bz3rk | CC BY-SA 4.0

Bank of America Stadium: How a City Pays for a Stadium

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Matt Trostle, CC BY 2.0. Bank of America Stadium was the first large American venue funded chiefly through Personal Seat Licenses - a then-new idea where fans bought the right to buy season tickets, paying upfront for a piece of plastic that didn't entitle them to anything except the privilege of paying ...

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Image: Matt Trostle | CC BY 2.0

Bank of America Stadium: The Lynching Beneath the End Zone

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nascar1996, Public domain. When the Panthers chose the Uptown site over alternatives near Charlotte Motor Speedway, Carowinds, or western Gaston County, they bought land that included the footprint of the historic Good Samaritan Hospital - and, as Charlotte historian Michael Moore established during prepar...

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Image: Nascar1996 | Public domain

Bank of America Stadium: An Open-Air Bowl in a Variable South

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit BrokenSphere, CC BY-SA 3.0. Charlotte sits in a climate that can produce both ice and tropical storms in the same calendar year, and the stadium - with its open roof and its half-football arches - has hosted both. The September 2011 "Water Bowl" against Jacksonville saw more than four inches of rain in less...

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Image: BrokenSphere | CC BY-SA 3.0

Bank of America Stadium: Two Sports, One Bowl

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jayron32, CC BY-SA 3.0. The field was designed wide enough for soccer from the beginning, but for most of the stadium's first two decades it stayed quiet outside football season. That changed in 2019, when Charlotte was awarded the 30th Major League Soccer franchise. Charlotte FC's home debut on March 5...

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Image: Jayron32 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Bank of America Stadium: The Future, with Cranes

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Trostle, CC BY 2.0. Owner David Tepper - who bought the franchise in 2018 - has at various times suggested demolishing the stadium for a new building, then announced an $800 million renovation instead, scheduled to start in 2026 with completion by 2030. Plans call for new exterior video boards, rede...

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Image: Trostle | CC BY 2.0