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Each week, WFAE's "Morning Edition" hosts get a rundown of the biggest business and development stories from The Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter.

In a news conference, Panthers owner doesn't talk details of stalled Rock Hill project

Carolina Panthers and Charlotte FC owner David Tepper holds a virtual news conference
Carolina Panthers
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Carolina Panthers and Charlotte FC owner David Tepper holds a virtual news conference

Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper has held his first news conference in more than a year. Reporters peppered him with questions yesterday about the nixed deal to build a new training facility and headquarters for the team in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

The Panthers left the future of the $800 million project — construction on which was already underway — in the air after saying the city of Rock Hill didn’t provide bonds to help pay for infrastructure. As for answering reporters’ questions about the topic on Tuesday…

“Tepper said repeatedly he wasn’t really going to answer that question,” the Charlotte Ledger business newsletter’s Tony Mecia told WFAE’s Woody Cain on this week’s installment of BizWorthy. “He said that there’s been a lot of finger-pointing back and forth between Rock Hill and the team. He said Rock Hill had asked that that not be argued in media and in the public. And so he said, respectfully, he didn't want to answer that. So he didn't really give a lot of insight into that. But he did say he does want to meet with Rock Hill and maybe try to hash something out.”

There were plenty of other questions posed to Tepper, such as requests for a status update on his organization’s Eastland Mall site, plans for building an uptown entertainment district and for his thoughts on the new MLS team Charlotte FC.

“He didn’t really want to talk about any of that,” Mecia said. “He said he was there to talk about football. He did say he didn’t fully appreciate when he bought the team how great of an experience it is watching a game at Bank of America Stadium.”

You can listen to the full BizWorthy conversation above. Here’s a quick look at what else Cain and Mecia and covered this week.

  • The wedding business is bouncing back after two years of postponed ceremonies due to the pandemic. The Charlotte area is seeingmore and more weddings
  • There’s some discussion about what the former owners of Charlotte restaurants that closed in the pandemic — Price’s Chicken Coop, Zack’s Hamburgers, Bill Spoon’s Barbecue and Mr. K’s — are doing these days
  • The Charlotte Observer’s parent company, McClatchy, is using AI to generate some news articles.

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Woody is a Charlotte native who came to WFAE from the world of NASCAR where he was host of NASCAR Today for MRN Radio as well as a pit reporter, turn announcer and host of the NASCAR Live pre race show for Cup Series races. Before that, he was a news anchor at WBT radio in Charlotte, a traffic reporter, editor of The Charlotte Observer’s University City Magazine, News/Sports Director at WEGO-AM in Concord and a Swiss Army knife in local cable television. His first job after graduating from Appalachian State University was news reporter at The Daily Independent in Kannapolis. Along the way he’s covered everything from murder trials and a national political convention to high school sports and minor league baseball.