In a statement released from owner Jerry Richardson and posted on the team’s website, the Carolina Panthers will be up for sale when the season ends.
“I believe that it is time to turn the franchise over to new ownership,” says Richardson via the statement. “Therefore, I will put the team up for sale at the conclusion of this NFL season.”
Richardson adds the sale process will not begin until after the Panthers play their final game. You can read Richardson’s statement in full here.
The announcement comes after the team opened an internal investigation regarding allegations of work-place misconduct, according to a report from ESPN’s Jim Trotter. It didn’t take long for the NFL to get involved, as Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer reported the league would take over the Richardson investigation.
Earlier on Sunday, Sports Illustrated’s L. Jon Wertheim and Viv Bernstien revealed some of the details that launched the investigation. Among them, reports that at least four former team employees “received significant settlements” from Richardson. The settlements were for “sexual harassment against female employees” and “directing a racial slur at an African-American employee.”
The Panthers were founded in 1993 and played their first game in 1995. Richardson was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in 1958 (13th round, 154th overall) and used his championship bonus earned while being on the Colts’ 1959 title-winning team to help open the Hardee’s burger franchise to kick-start his business career.
Richardson later became the first former NFL player to own a franchise since George S. Halas.