Happy birthday, Panthers

Fifteen years ago today, the NFL awarded a franchise to the city of Charlotte

CHARLOTTE -- The Carolina Panthers turn 15 today.

It was on this date in 1993 that Jerry and Mark Richardson learned their bid for a Carolinas' NFL franchise was successful.

Within weeks, construction of their uptown Charlotte stadium commenced.

Less than two years later, they played their first game.

Today, at the halfway point of their 14th season, they are 5-2 and host the Arizona Cardinals (4-2) at Bank of America Stadium in search of the fourth playoff berth in franchise history.

"It's gone very quickly," Mark Richardson, the team president, said of the organization's first 15 years. "Some years go faster than others."

The Panthers have experienced extreme thrills, topped by a Super Bowl XXXVIII appearance, and disappointments, such as a 1-15 record in 2001.

"For me, the highs and lows are connected," said Jerry Richardson, the team owner and Mark's father. "It happens every week. When we win, it is wonderful to see the fans happy, and when we lose, you feel awful for all those who support the team."

The Panthers have played in three NFC Championship Games since making their debut in 1995 -- an accomplishment exceeded by only the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles (four each).

It all became possible on the evening of Oct. 26, 1993, in a Chicago hotel.

'Thank you, thank you'

A six-year quest to land an NFL franchise came down to one last sales pitch to league owners.

Jerry and Mark Richardson, along with marketing consultant Max Muhleman made their presentation to owners and then were taken to a hotel suite to wait with future team president Mike McCormack.

Four other cities also were vying for one of the two expansion franchises to be awarded. Like the Panthers, the other prospective teams already had nicknames -- the St. Louis Stallions, Jacksonville Jaguars, Memphis Hound Dogs and Baltimore Bombers.

Finally, they were summoned and received the news that NFL owners had voted unanimously to award the Carolinas a franchise and to delay awarding the second expansion team for another month.

Eventually, it went to Jacksonville. St. Louis and Baltimore later got franchises when existing teams (the Los Angeles Rams and Cleveland Browns, respectively) moved to their cities.

At an evening press conference when then-NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue introduced Jerry Richardson as the league's newest owner, Richardson pointed to Carolinas television cameras and sent a "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" message back home to the fans who had supported the expansion bid by purchasing permanent seat licenses.

Mark Richardson recalls thinking that while the long journey to get a franchise was finally over, the hard work of starting one from scratch loomed next.

"It was kind of like watching the dog chase the bus," Richardson said. "He's always chasing it and he never catches it. Well, that day we finally caught the bus. After that, it was like, 'What do we do now?' "

Getting started

The Richardsons had known for years that they wanted to name their team the Panthers.

Jerry Richardson hardly tried to hide the idea, driving a car starting in late 1989 with a license plate that read "PNTHRS."

"The advantage we had was most people, when they buy a sports team, they're buying somebody else's team," Mark said. "So you've bought a nickname, you've bought colors, you've bought somebody else's heritage and their history.

"The unique situation we had was we had a chance to do all that from the start. We had a chance to pick the colors, pick the name, design the uniform and write our own history."