Why the Panthers logo needs to be in the middle of the field at Bank of America Stadium
I’ve been a Carolina Panthers fan for as long as I can remember. Even before I started to pay attention to the rest of the sports world, I thought the Panthers were the best team ever. It’s not every day you can find a team that was born the same year as you and also happens to be located in your hometown.
Going to see the Panthers play at Bank of America Stadium is one of my favorite things to do, but something that I have always wondered is why the NFL shield is placed at the centerfield hashmark instead of the roaring Panthers logo.
The NFL shield has adorned the 50-yard line instead of the team’s own logo ever since the Panthers called their home Ericsson Stadium back when it opened in 1996. Besides Metlife Stadium and the L.A. Coliseum where the Giants, Jets and Rams play, every other team in the NFL has their own team logo at the center of their field. Part of the reasoning behind the Panthers’ decision to have the NFL shield on the field came from Panthers founder Jerry Richardson.
“We want to reemphasize to our fans that this is NFL football and not something else,” Richardson said in 2008. “This is the most powerful brand in sports.”
Lately, the NFL has started to push the limits of just how powerful their brand really is. The league has been controversial in its handling of domestic violence, players’ safety and the political protests happening on the sidelines, coinciding with a decrease in NFL viewership. The NFL has started to break away from the dignified reputation it tried so hard to secure. As a fan, I’m starting to think I should rally behind something different on Sundays.
The Panthers have not been immune to the evolving times. Last year, Richardson was in the news for allegedly facilitating a hostile work environment for his female employees and using racial slurs. Soon after the story broke, Richardson announced he would be selling the team he helped build.
This past offseason, the Panthers were sold to hedge fund billionaire David Tepper. How Tepper will be as an owner — and how he will lead the team forward — remains to be seen. But I think the Panthers will be able to move on from Richardson’s mistakes.
It wouldn’t take much to diverge from Richardson’s influence on the team. A freshly painted Panthers logo in the middle of our home field would be an exciting start toward change.
I’m not the only supporter. A story that has gained traction this month is the #PanthersLogoChallenge, where Panthers players Cam Newton, Thomas Davis and Christian McCaffrey have vocalized their support on Twitter for the Panthers logo to be placed in the middle of the field.
So far, no official announcement has been made about what will be in the center of Bank of America Stadium. The field has been blank during the Panthers preseason games, but Tepper and even Madden NFL 19 have hinted that a change may soon be unveiled during Week 1 against the Dallas Cowboys.
To me, the NFL shield at Bank of America is a reminder that the Panthers are a part of a larger business conglomerate who do not necessarily hold the same values of respect as I do. Even though the Panthers have also come up short in keeping up with those values, the horizon seems brighter for the organization now than it did only months ago, thanks to a change in the owner and culture of the team.
The Panthers need to celebrate their fans and their community in a positive way that does not feel cheap or forced. Putting the Panthers logo at midfield is a subtle, yet deeply satisfying step in that direction that all fans can appreciate. With the NFL making headlines for all the wrong reasons, it’s important to acknowledge it’s the Panthers, not the NFL, that make Sundays in the fall so special to the Carolinas.
This story was originally published August 30, 2018 at 2:00 AM.