Carolina Panthers Owner Jerry Richardson Says He Will Sell Team
Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson watches the action during the first half of an NFL football game between the Carolina Panthers and the Green Bay Packers in Charlotte, N.C., on Sunday.
Mike McCarn/AP
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Mike McCarn/AP
Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson announced Sunday that he would put his team up for sale at the end of the season after the National Football League said it was opening an investigation into accusations of workplace misconduct against him.
“I believe that it is time to turn the franchise over to new ownership,” Richardson, 81, said in a statement on the team’s website. “Therefore, I will put the team up for sale at the end of this NFL season.”
Two days ago, the team said it was conducting an internal investigation into Richardson’s conduct, but did not specify the nature of the allegations. Sports Illustrated says they include sexual harassment of multiple female employees and a racial slur.
Hours before Richardson’s announcement on Sunday, NFL.com reported that the league was opening its own investigation into the allegations.
In the statement on Friday announcing the internal investigation, the Panthers said the team was “committed to ensuring a safe, comfortable and diverse work environment where all individuals, regardless of sex, race, color, religion, gender, or sexual identity or orientation, are treated fairly and equally.”
The Panthers announced that former White House chief of staff to President Clinton, Erskine Bowles — who is a minority owner of the team — would oversee the investigation by law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan.
SI, quoting unnamed sources, detailed what it claims were inappropriate comments made by Richardson about how female employees fit into their jeans, as well as “Multiple female employees [recalling] to SI that Richardson asked them if he could personally shave their legs,” the magazine said.
” … on multiple occasions when Richardson’s conduct has triggered complaints—for sexual harassment against female employees and for directing a racial slur at an African American employee—he has taken a leaf from a playbook he’s deployed in the past: Confidential settlements were reached and payments were made to complainants, accompanied by non-disclosure and non-disparagement clauses designed to shield the owner and the organization from further liability and damaging publicity,” according to SI.
Following Richardson’s announcement of the team’s impending sale, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry both issued tweets saying they were interested in buying.
There are no majority African American NFL owners. Let’s make history.
— Diddy (@Diddy) December 18, 2017
I? want in! https://t.co/XvvC1vo7xI
— Stephen Curry (@StephenCurry30) December 18, 2017
ESPN writes: “Richardson was awarded the franchise in October 1993. The Panthers played their first season in 1995. Richardson previously had a plan in place that called for the team to be sold within two years of his death. Richardson reached a deal with Charlotte officials in 2013, when the city agreed to pay $87.5 million in upgrades to Bank of America Stadium that would keep the Panthers there through June 2019.”
Airport Power Restored In Atlanta But Thousands Are Stranded
Passengers wait after the lights went out at Hartfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Sunday. Many travelers were stuck in grounded planes for hours.
Branden Camp/AP
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Branden Camp/AP
Updated 12:55 a.m. ET Monday
People traveling through Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport struggled to get home Sunday after a power outage there forced hundreds of flight cancellations.
Officials announced that power had been fully restored to the airport shortly after midnight.
The power went out early Sunday afternoon and hundreds of flights at the world’s busiest airport ended up canceled. Many travelers were stuck in grounded planes for hours.
Power is back ON in Atrium and Concourses T, A and B!
— Atlanta Airport (@ATLairport) December 18, 2017
Shortly after 10 p.m., Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed tweeted that all passengers “have been safely de-planed.”
Power was restored in some sections of the airport after 11 p.m.
Others, like Stephen Mack, were stranded in crowded terminals, Johnny Kauffman of member station WABE reported.
“We are all hungry, tired, frustrated,” Mack said.
After 10.5 hour-long international flight departing at 4:55 am ET, we now approach hour 5 on the tarmac at Atlanta. No food. But everyone is holding it together. pic.twitter.com/tcPkvGtdP9
— Ellen L. Carmichael (@ellencarmichael) December 18, 2017
According to airport officials, Georgia Power said the outage was tied to a fire that caused extensive damage to an underground electrical facility.
Delta Air Lines said about 900 of its flights were canceled Sunday and about 300 flights will be canceled Monday. Southwest Airlines cancelled all of its flights in and out of Atlanta. And the effects were felt at other airports around the country.
In Atlanta, traffic backed up around the airport, and people walked miles to their hotels. The City of Atlanta tweeted it would provide shuttles to the Georgia International Convention Center “for anyone who needs a place to stay for the night.”
Dr. Martha Brewer, an OB-GYN from Atlanta, and her wife were scheduled to fly to New York’s JFK Airport to catch a flight to Barcelona. When they arrived at the Atlanta airport just after 2 p.m., Brewer said, “somebody was screaming at us that the power was out.”
They made their way into a darkened terminal. “There were a ton of people in there and it was very dark except for a few emergency lights,” Brewer said. “People were standing in line. Nothing was going on. There were no Delta people. Nobody was telling anybody anything.
“We found out what was going on by calling a relative to see if anything was on TV or to look on the Internet,” Brewer said.
Finally, after waiting at the airport for about 90 minutes, they called a friend and asked her to hire an Uber to pick them up. After arriving back home, Brewer said the couple rebooked their flight to Barcelona for Monday.
They ended up taking an Amtrak train to New York.
