If you want a contrived beat-into-the ground issue, it's this -- Panther fans selling their tickets to fans of the opposing team.
Panther coach Ron Rivera,defensive coordinator Sean McDermott and tackle Jordan Gross talked Monday about all the Washington fans they saw at Bank of America Stadium Sunday and all the noise those fans made.
Callers talked about it Tuesday afternoon almost every time I turned on sports talk radio.
I'm in the minority here. I don't care what fans do with their tickets.
If they want to sell them, they get to. The tickets belong to them.
Secondly, many of the fans complaining about the Redskins' fans at BofA watched the game on TV.
Of course the Panthers aren't as entrenched as the Pittsburgh Steelers are in Pittsburgh, the New York Giants are in New York or the Green Bay Packers are in Green Bay.
The Northeast, Midwest and Pittsburgh embrace their teams with intensity the rest of the country struggles to match. Fans there love their teams and hate their teams, but they don't abandon their teams.
The Panthers came together in 1995. They're a teenager. Passion for them has yet to be passed from one generation to another like an heirloom.
If you are a Panther fan, and you sell your ticket Sunday to a Minnesota fan this week, are you disloyal? Should you be run out of town? Shipped to the Minnesota tundra?
If seeing purple jerseys at Bank of America Stadium is going to bother you, outbid the Northern invaders for tickets.
You can't shame people into showing up for a game. You have to give them a product that will compel them to show up. The Panthers are starting to.
Lastly, thousands of fans walking down the steps and out of the stadium after the Washington game were cheering "Let's go Panthers!" It felt like a movement. I didn't hear anybody chant, "Let's go Redskins!"
I'm not being disloyal. I can't attend games this year. I tried to sell my nice lower level seats for FACE value before the season started. Nobody wanted them. Now they are for sale online through the Panthers/ticketmaster ticket exchange. If other team fans buy them, oh well, locals already had plenty of opportunity to give me exactly what I paid for them, but they all wanted a "deal"/I lose money, no thanks.
Posted by: AFan | October 25, 2011 at 07:27 PM
That is right, I have PSL's and I have been to every game this year except one, and that was because I had to go out of town.
If you don't want other teams fans to go to the game, then the people sitting at home need to buy the tickets before the game and I also know that there are 1500 tickets still available for the Vikings game.
Posted by: huh! | October 25, 2011 at 07:36 PM
Good article. If Panthers' fans had half the loyalty that all the transplants have to the teams from where they came from, there would hardly be any tickets for them to buy any week, even when we are losing.
This is our 17th season, time to grow up. Hopefully Cam will be the guy we all think he will be, we will establish a consistent winning tradition, and (finally) turn the CLT into a real football town. Go Panthers!
Posted by: Joe F. | October 25, 2011 at 07:45 PM
Winning is the main ingredient for raucus and full home crowds. We also need to keep in mind that Charlotte has so much more to offer than the crappy cities of Pittsburgh, DC, and Buffalo. We win, we shut them up! Go Panthers!
Posted by: Go Charlotte | October 25, 2011 at 08:01 PM
Great points Joe F! Cam could be the "happy drug" this city needs to get addicted to the Panthers. Of course 3 or 4 (or more) winning seasons in a row with trips to the Super Bowl will help too.
Posted by: Phil W | October 25, 2011 at 08:05 PM
I was very appreciative to the Panthers fans that sold me tickets to see my Saints play. I mean, do you want Charlotte to be a stadium like that of the Eagles???? I certainly don't. All of these people complaining about the opposing fans- remember, the Redskins were THE TEAM for many before the Panthers were created- need to buy tickets and go to the game in their Blue and Black if it bothers them so much.
Joe F. is right. Being an alumna of the University of Alabama where we eat, sleep, and breathe football , a lot of this city and its residents still don't get it when it comes to supporting a football team. I mean, look at the Saints. My first Saints game was when I was 8-years-old in the Super Dome and the guys with bags over their heads were common to see for years behind the goal posts. While we all were usually surprised when we won, we still showed up! Winning fixes everything, but Panthers fans certainly haven't shown a huge level of commitment- though management shares a lot of the blame for that, too- since that Super Bowl run. They always seem to want to, but then when the team starts disappointing they go home. Truly, you are either in or your out.
Posted by: C.B. | October 25, 2011 at 08:14 PM
I have been a PSL club seat owner since day one..literally day one. I needed to sell some of mytickets so i posted those on stubhub and ticketexchange and the first ones to go above face value were greenbay followed the next day by atlanta, and then new orleans. these sold in August before any real games were played. is it a coincidence that 2 of those won the last 2 super bowls and the other (ATL)was picked by many to be a contender this year? NO. (I assume they were bought by fans of those teams but how do I know? )it is a product. people want to pay $160 a seat to go home happy. Or see panthers upset a great team. I will own these seats forever and i have to shell out $3,000 every March for tickets. I needed the money this year more than in previous years, or I would have attended. But those whiners who pay $32 to sit in the ozone seats think everyone who sits in club seats are CEO's or something.
Posted by: tom | October 25, 2011 at 08:29 PM
I'm a Panther fan club seat owner from Bowie,Maryland and I make it to most games. If not my daughter who lives in Raleigh takes my place, been coming to games since 1996. Get with it Charlotte!
Posted by: David | October 25, 2011 at 08:34 PM
They didn't say it was a crime, they simply said they'd like to see more Panthers fans in the stands.
Sure it will take time, but the fact that the head coach cares about it along with the players shows that they want to put a product on the field that will bring in the Panthers fans.
Seems pretty simple to me and I don't see anything wrong with them expressing that opinion.
Posted by: Jeff | October 25, 2011 at 09:44 PM
im from nc and have always and will always be a redskins fan 42 years old. so i was raised on redskins football. when the panthres came in 1995. my mom baught me a panthers sweatshirt. i never wore it. i was 26 years old when the panthers came along. i had already watched to much skins football 5 superbowl app 3 wins. another thing just because the city or state you live in has a nfl team does that mean you should root for them. i donty think so. it goes alot deeper than that team colors team logo. so if your from nc and move to say arizona are you going to become a cardinal fan please.
Posted by: eric | October 25, 2011 at 10:27 PM
yea Tom is a female dog... i hate reading his columns. It's like he's a 13yo girl complaining about touchdown dances, draft picks, and now he's upset the panthers want their own fans in their stadium.. CO fire this guy and get a real sports writer!
Posted by: Panthers1 | October 25, 2011 at 10:38 PM
I'm a fan and if we let other fans into our stadium, they may convert. So let'em in. The more the merrier.
Posted by: Tim | October 26, 2011 at 12:02 AM
Long-time PSL holder from season 1 in Clemson. Now live 5 hours away in New Bern. I would love to always sell tickets for games I can't make to Panther fans. One problem-- when you post the tickets on StubHub or NFL ticket exchange, you lose all control over whose fans buy the tickets. It's not disloyal to try to get your money back on tickets you can't use...especially when a fan from N'orleans or Hotlanta is willing to pay double face to get into the game. It's capitalism folks. That's the way it works
Posted by: Allen Hincher | October 26, 2011 at 12:11 AM
This is still a young team. But if you really want to fill the seats with Panther fans you have got to win. I don't mean just one season either. You have got to win year in and out. Contend each year for playoff spots. Win a super Bowl or two. Do this and the days of visiting teams matching us at home games will be over.
Posted by: Don Fowlkes | October 26, 2011 at 02:45 AM
I am a PSL holder since year 1. I am In China for for the next 3 years, I also tried to sell my tickets in section 123 for face value and no one wanted them. If I had the opportunity to sell them I would, but I am to far away so those tickets are unused.
The only way that I get panthers news is through the Internet on Monday's after the game.
GO PANTHERS
Posted by: Louis | October 26, 2011 at 04:15 AM
You're wrong, Tom. Panthers' fans are the worst in the league. They would rather sit at home in front of their big screen TV and complain about the "atmosphere" at BOA.
Posted by: Neil | October 26, 2011 at 06:01 AM
Occupy Mint Street!!!
Posted by: Anonymous | October 26, 2011 at 06:58 AM
Out bid you say? so now to be a ture fan I have to have lots of money? Move back to your home city Tom. Jerk.
Posted by: Mark Wells | October 26, 2011 at 07:23 AM
The ire needs to be directed at the "fans" who are not attending the games. PSL owners have shelled out big bucks over the years for essentially crap. I ate 3 tickets last week ($180) so I wouldn't sell to obnoxious Redskin fans. I would have gladly sold them cheaply to Panther fans (who knew how to behave, i.e. not get thrown out)
Posted by: John | October 26, 2011 at 08:26 AM
Its not the average fan who is selling there tickts that causes the problem. Its ticket brokers who buy multiple seats and advertise them to the opposing teams. In my section almost every game the same 10 - 20 seats are occupied with opposing fans. I have asked them where they got the tickets and most get them from a broker not stubhub. Ticket brokers are scumm and any fan who sells to a ticket broker is no better.
If you want them out complain to the panthers that whom ever the PSL owner is that never attends is ruining your gameday experience buy brokering his tickets to opposing fans every week. Demand they move to to a section that is more pather fan friendly.
Posted by: NCPANTHER | October 26, 2011 at 08:46 AM
This is our 17th season...more than enough time to paint a LARGE Panther logo on the center of the field to lay claim to OUR home, not the NFL!
Mr. Richardson, you want more fan support? Put our logo on our field!!! Let the other teams' fans know whose house they are in!
Posted by: Johnson | October 26, 2011 at 08:52 AM
I don't know of many people that worry about getting Panthers tickets ahead of time. You go down to the game & will have the opportunity to buy them from someone at a reduced price. If there was more local interest in games, these tickets wouldn't be available to fans of opposing teams. It's not like Redskins fans are being sneaky & buying tickets out from under Panther fans that are trying to get these seats. Either Carolina fans don't want the tickets, or there simply aren't enough Panther fans. Cam Newton is step 1 in changing this...step 2 is winning.
Posted by: Steelers fan in Charlotte | October 26, 2011 at 09:28 AM
I'm a PSL owner since the beginning. I live in NJ now and get back to one game a year. The rest of the tickets are sold either on EBAY, Stub hub, or my family. Am I supposed to lose money every year by selling them cheap / giving them to a Panther fan? I would love to sell them to a Panther fan but too often friends and family want them for free. I sell to the highest bidder and don't discriminate. Not to beat a dead horse, but I made a commitment in the form of a PSL to get the team here, those that want cheap tickets, where is your commitment?
Posted by: Section 516 | October 26, 2011 at 09:32 AM
win or loose you are suppose to support
your team.that is what most cities do!
Posted by: richard | October 26, 2011 at 09:42 AM
We cannot say that, if panthers had the same loyalty as the transplants have loyalty for their team. The transplants probably show up for one game, the game their team plays panthers. imagine if you are a panther fan in oakland, you will probably go to a raiders game if they played the panthers.
Posted by: davis25 | October 26, 2011 at 09:48 AM