Inside the CAROLINA PANTHERS’ $500,000,000 BANK OF AMERICA STADIUM | Royal Key

What’s going on, world? Brand new episode of Royal Key there on your screen. I’m your host, George Kil, and I’m at Bank of America Stadium with Dave of Temper Sports and Entertainment. Dave, how are you, man? I’m doing great. Thank you for coming. Yeah. Yeah. No, I’m happy to be here. Now, obviously, we’re here to see all of the new renovations you guys have done. This is a part of a multi-phase project. Uh, but I have a two-part question to start off with. Far away. If I’ve never been to this stadium before, what are some of those wow moments in general that you would uh let a person know? Well, we’re standing at one of them right now. So, this is one of our three main gates. We have the north gate, the east gate, and the south gate. As you can see, this one has been recently touched up out of our last phase of renovations coming into our inaugural season of the MLS in 2022. So, we built two new 360° bars here. We expanded the footprint of the Ingress on a game day. That’s awesome. Well, Dave, I’m your person today, man. So, you got to show me all of the gates. Uh, I’m following your lead. Yeah. Let’s go over to the north gate. All right, we’ve made it. Welcome to the stadium’s north gate. The construction of the stadium. There’s actually a story right behind us. Right. There is. So, the original funding source of the construction of the stadium back in 1995 was through the lens of personal seat licenses, and that helped Mr. Richardson and his limited partners help actually fund the construction of the stadium. So, there’s a pair of Panthers statues that were created and gifted back to the PSL owners. There’s a parrot each one of our three main stadium gates and etched on the base of the Indomitable Spirit statues is the names of the original PSL owners, both personal and corporation. So, it’s a nice little tribute back to those who were with us from the beginning. Now, I heard these Panthers uh have the the opportunity and potential to to wow you and and startle you uh in a way. They do. They do. If you happen to be walking by Banks America Stadium on the top of an hour, they do actually uh they’ll bring you back to the jungle and they actually do growl. Let’s talk about the facade of the stadium. This doesn’t look like your normal stadium from the external, right? Back in 1995. It’s 30 years old now. It’s more of a traditional stadium bowl design and you can see some of the landscaping and scenery around here. When we look at this venue, we want to be the premier entertainment venue. One of the great things of Bank of America Stadium is that it is in the heart of Uptown Charlotte, welcoming so many patrons here annually to our 40 plus major stadium events. For sure. Bank of America Stadium, how is it having them be a partner uh naming rights wise of your entire stadium for so long? They’re tremendous and we’re so honored to have them be in partnership with us as the focal point and the naming rights of this venue. [Music] Okay, Dave, everyone knows Bank of America’s main tenant, uh, the Carolina Panthers, but as of 2022, I believe you guys added a new tenant. Yes. Brought Charlotte FC to town and welcomed the MLS to the Carolinas. Although it’s not the first professional soccer to be played in the Queen City. Part of that renovation was the locker room here, which you see today, state-of-the-art with everything the guys need to be successful on game day. Yes. How have you seen the growth of the the fan base here for Charlotte FC uh since adding them in? Oh, it’s tremendous support. So, the top of the league in attendance. We welcome roughly 30,000 fans to our stadium every single home Major League Soccer Charlotte FC match, which is just tremendous. Um, and it just goes to show that Charlotte really is a soccer city and the loyal and engaging fan base that this town has supporting us week in and week out. Welcome to our newest uh premium space here at Bank of America Stadium. The inception of this area came from the inaugural MLS season where we wanted to have both teams have a center procession onto the pitch. And this was an underutilized space on event day where we were able to design a really nice welcoming safe haven of sorts to bring the fans experience and the fans a lot closer to the players before they take a pitch for an MLS game. So this space is used for all Panthers, Charlotte FC, and major stadium events. Yeah. And even one of the more unique things, they have really close access to the players, right? They do for both sports. For both sports. That was the ideation behind Charlotte FC. Both home and away teams will process right through. These big barn doors will open up. Charlotte FC’s locker room where we just came from is right behind those doors and they’ll walk straight through. Both benches are on the south side of the sideline. And then for NFL games, the visiting team NFL bench is 12 feet from the patrons that are enjoying this space on NFL Sundays. For some of the patrons, like what are some of the unique design cues you often hear them talk about? Like I love the monochromatic all black, but what do you usually hear? I hear speak easy. I do hear safe haven a little bit. We hired a design firm. We tied a spin off the financial district. Right. This was this used to be a warehouse. It used to be a workshop. It used to be storage offices and this is actually where the money room was. All right, Caitlyn, in what ways do you bring the Panther to life? About 3 years ago, we sort of shifted our foundational brand strategy to leaning into the cat itself. Before we were very much leaning on, you know, our word mark, our logo. So, we’ve done, you know, all sorts of things where we’re bringing in the layer concept where this is our layer is one of our brand mantras. Now, we’ve created sort of an environment around Bank of America Stadium and being this, you know, mythical layer that a Panther lives in, which has kind of resulted in things like this of bringing that storytelling sort of to life for not only our players but also our fans. Yeah. I’m not going to let you not get out of this layer and not talk about this. Uh, tell me about this new activation here. Sure. Yeah. So, um, early in 2024, probably about 3 months before the season started, um, we worked with a local artist. His name is Matt Moore. He’s done many projects for us in the past, but this is certainly the biggest one. It was important for us to work with someone that’s local. But really what we did was we partnered with him, went through all of our brand changes and all of the personality that we wanted to bring out of the cat, of the panther, of the pack of panthers, and kind of sat down and brainstormed with him on what would be energizing for this space. Um, so partnering with Matt and and really getting, you know, the concept out on paper before he started was so exciting. and to see what he’s created um is amazing. The Panthers intentionally start a little smaller, a little more relaxed, and they kind of, you know, pick up speed and intensity um just as we hope the players do as they approach the field on game day. So, this is the area called the gallery. The inception of this came online in 2021. Challenged us to uh put our heads together and come up with something that was really an underutilized space here on event level. Again, give fans an ultra premium area that’s all-inclusive. It’s the only one in the stadium. It’s all inclusive in terms of a sweet product directly across from the team’s locker room where you can see a firsthand look at the player procession as they come onto the field prior to the game. We toured baseball fields, ice hockey, basketball arenas and wanted to come up with something that had sort of a private suite, a communal mixing zone neighborhood feel and then you have dedicated seats with personal TVs, luxury style theater seats right on field level. How have fans enjoy the the inside outside uh mixed use space? As you know, it can get a little hot in Carolina. So, having a climate controlled space where they can tuck in, you can conduct business in here. You can cool off from the elements, warm up in the winter time, um but then not miss any of the action. All right, Dan. Grid Iron Club. It seems fitting the name, right? I’m seeing footballs, helmets, locker rooms, lockers. Uh tell me about this space and who gets to to access it. Yeah. So, this is one of our 11 sweet clubs that we have here at Bank of America Stadium. It’s the second one that we ever brought online. Built back in 2008. Very NFLheavy Panthercentric. So, look to see this one come back online with a different identity post renovation. So, 10,000 ft² lounge, 282 seats that are under the 500 level overhang. So, they’re totally protected from the elements. They have heat, fans, private TVs, highback theater style seats. It’s a great place to watch a game on Sundays and Saturday nights. Yeah, you need that AC, man. Especially right here in Carolina. Now, behind us, you have some some painted balls. Uh, what do they signify? These are the original members of the club. So, when we opened this space in 2008, we wanted to have a little bit of a tribute to those members. So, every inaugural member, charter member has a ball that is on display in this space. And I think we’ll be able to we’ll find a way to reinvigorate this and still have it be part of the identity. All right, Dan, where are we now? This is the west entrance, John Coleman lobby at Bank of America Stadium, where all of us that have the pleasure of working here get to start our day. Now, let’s pause. We’ve seen a lot of the renovations now, but uh between now and 2030, you guys have way more coming. The next several years, we’re going to phase the approach with a intended completion by 2030. We’re going to start with the outside of the building. It’s going to be a all new redesigned park-like setting. Exterior facade is going to be touched up, so it has a whole new look when you’re coming in on game days and and non-event days. We’re going to update the plazas, exterior, all new video boards, both interior and exterior. Think watch parties, public gatherings, etc. Something simple as all seats need to be replaced in the building. So, plastic seats been out there for 30 years. It’s time. And few more ways for fans to engage with us on game day. Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! [Music]

We toured Bank of America Stadium to uncover how the Carolina Panthers craft one of the NFL’s most intentional fan experiences.

Step inside an exclusive Royal Key tour of the Carolina Panthers and Charlotte FC’s home turf as we explore the premium clubs, concourses, locker rooms, and field-level spaces that shape game day in Charlotte. This episode also captures a stadium on the brink of major transformation. With an HOK-led $800M modernization beginning in 2026, Bank of America Stadium is preparing for its most ambitious evolution yet. We highlight the spaces fans know today—and hint at what’s coming in the next era of upgrades across fan experience, technology, premium amenities, and environment design.

Chapters
0:00 – Intro
1:02 – North Gate
2:47 – Locker Room
3:42 – Registix Reserve
5:14 – Team Branding
6:57 – The Gallery
7:52 – Gridiron Club
9:04 – Coleman Lobby

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