Goodell: Keeping Panthers in Charlotte “certainly” the intent

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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was asked a couple of questions about the Panthers during his Wednesday press conference in Minneapolis that were both related to team owner Jerry Richardson’s plan to sell the team this year.

One had to do with the investigation into the workplace misconduct allegations against Richardson that surfaced just before he put the team up for sale. The other had to do with the possibility that a new owner might want to move the Panthers to a new city.

“I think all of us and the owners believe Carolina is a great market,” Goodell said. “It’s a market we would like to stay in and we hope that the franchise owner that’s eventually selected will have that view. As you know, that is subject to review by the ownership in the ownership process and I’m sure that will be a question that many owners will ask, and I think that will clearly be the intent of our ownership.”

Relocation bids are subject to a vote by owners and must get 75 percent in order to get league approval. Patriots owner Robert Kraft said on Wednesday that he didn’t think such a bid would find that kind of support among his peers.

“I’d be very surprised if someone would try to move that team,” Kraft said, via Joe Person of the Charlotte Observer. “First of all, Charlotte’s an amazing area. … It’s an area of growth. The fans there have been great. I think a new owner would have a very tough time getting 24 votes to move the team.”

There have been scattered reports of interested suitors, but nothing has moved forward since the Panthers were eliminated from the playoffs earlier this month.

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