Email from Panthers president confirms practice bubble timeline, ticket price change
An email sent by Carolina Panthers president Tom Glick to PSL owners on Wednesday confirmed several important details about the 2019 season, including the timeline for the team’s new temporary indoor facility and a change in some ticket prices.
The practice bubble, which the organization has decided to call “the Bubble” per Glick’s email, will be constructed over one of the team’s three outdoor practice fields to offer a climate-controlled environment for players beginning in the 2019 preseason.
Glick also teased more upcoming infrastructural projects.
“The Bubble is our first of several planned infrastructure projects and will be followed by enhancements to Bank of America Stadium and a new permanent practice facility and campus in the future,” Glick’s email said.
The Panthers had to adjust practices several times in 2018 due to weather at their outdoor fields, and remained one of only a few teams in the NFL without an indoor option. The team even had to move practice to inside the Charlotte Convention Center near the end of the season, running plays on carpet and under chandeliers.
The Observer reported in January after a meeting with Panthers owner David Tepper that he has been working with both North and South Carolina to hone in on a location for such a facility. Tepper indicated that the location of the facility should be relatively close to the team’s current headquarters in Uptown Charlotte.
Prices of tickets will increase on about 61 percent of seats in Bank of America Stadium in 2019, but will exclude any increase on 4,000 lower-bowl seats. Ticket price increases range from $3 to $5 per ticket in the upper bowl and $4 to $20 per ticket in selected sections in the lower bowl. Three ticket payment options are available.
The Panthers also raised ticket prices for the majority of seats in Bank of America stadium by a range of $1-6 in 2018, but did not raise prices ahead of the 2017 season.
The organization will also convert fully to mobile ticketing in 2019.
According to the team, PSL owners will continue to pay 10-15 percent less for their season tickets per game on average than a single-game ticket would cost, according to the team.
Glick also confirmed in a video attached to the email that “caravans” and fan festivals would be traveling to different locations in the Carolinas to meet and greet as many fans in both states as possible.
That venture echoes Glick and Tepper’s hope for increasing charitable efforts in the Carolinas in 2019. Tepper highlighted education as one of his charitable endeavors in 2018, handing out 12,000 backpacks to Mecklenburg County schools in the fall and donating $120,000 to elementary school teachers in the county for mid-year school supplies last month.
This story was originally published February 20, 2019 at 11:07 AM.
