CHARLOTTE – While there have been multiple bids to purchase the Carolina Panthers, it appears the race is down to two.
Sources tell NBC Charlotte the next Panthers owner will likely be Steelers minority owner David Tepper or Charleston-based businessman Ben Navarro. Both made visits to Bank of America Stadium last month, as did Canadian steel company CEO and Miami businessman Alan Kestenbaum.
Kestenbaum has made multiple trips to Charlotte including to Thursday’s first round of the Wells Fargo Championship where he met with local business people. While this shows that Kestenbaum is still interested in buying the team, sources tell NBC Charlotte that either Tepper or Navarro is expected to win the bid.
At the NFL meetings in March, sources told NBC Charlotte the league expected a winning bidder to be voted in at the May meetings in Atlanta.
However, at this point it would be difficult for a winning bidder to be vetted by those meetings, with the exception of Tepper, who Forbes estimates to be worth $11 billion, and owns 5 percent of the Steelers.
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