CHARLOTTE, N.C. - David Tepper is Jerry Richardson’s pick to buy the Panthers and he’ll do it for a record $2.2 billion cash, but he’s not the next owner yet.
In order for him to get the title there are a few steps he must get through first.
- Signing the deal
- As NBC Charlotte reported on Friday, Tepper was expected to finalize the deal early this week
- Finance committee approval
- The NFL’s finance committee is made up of nine owners. The finance committee must approve the sale before it goes before the owners for a vote
- Approval from NFL owners
- In order for the process to be complete, Tepper must be approved by the NFL owners. In order to win the approval, he needs three fourths of the owners votes, or 24 of the 32 owners.
- Since Tepper is already a minority owner of the Steelers and was considered the favorite among the owners, it’s likely that he’ll have no trouble getting approval
- Vetting by the NFL
- Since Tepper owns five percent of the Steelers, he’s already been vetted by the NFL. While there may be a few additional things to check out as he takes over as a majority owner, it’s likely most of this work is already down
- Sell stake in the Steelers
- In order to become a majority owner of the Panthers, Tepper cannot own a portion of another NFL team. He’ll have to sell his five percent stake in his hometown team of the Steelers to become the Panthers next owner.
