Some Carolina Panthers fans are worse than mad — they just don’t care

It’s hard to know if opposing fans outnumbered Panthers fans, but it sure looked like it. The home crowd was anemic.

What’s happening: Empty seats at Bank of America Stadium — or seats filled with opposing fans — have become an increasingly common sight as the Panthers’ losses mount. They’re 1-4 and just fired head coach Matt Rhule. When casual fans opt out of paying to see a habitually losing team, all you’re left with is the small cadre of diehards with season tickets.

Why it matters: Plenty of Panthers fans are apathetic. Plenty are not only not traveling to see the team, they’re not even showing up to home games. That helps erode any home field advantage — and it dulls the mood of fans.

“At this point they’re not even angry anymore,” said Zack Luttrell, who started the Roaring Riot in 2008.

“People just don’t care. They’re totally uninterested in the team and I don’t blame them.”

By the numbers: Even during losing seasons in the past, Roaring Riot would routinely travel with around 300 fans to away games. This year, Luttrell has four trips with fewer than 50 Panthers fans confirmed to attend.

• Roaring Riot has also trimmed its staff from six to two, Luttrell says. That’s because of a revenue decline stemming from the team’s success, as well as because of COVID, when game attendance was either not allowed or greatly limited.
• Plus the team hasn’t known on-the-field success under owner David Tepper, who bought the team in July 2018. Rhule was Tepper’s first head coaching hire in early 2020. He left with a losing record (11-27) and never took the team to the playoffs.

Flashback: The current environment on Mint Street seems like a lifetime removed from the magical 2015 season, which culminated in a trip to the Super Bowl.

• But so much of what fans loved about that season — Cam Newton, Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis, dabbing, Thieves Avenue (the name defensive backs gave themselves), coach Ron Rivera — is long gone.
• There are few big personalities and fun story lines for fans to connect with, Luttrell says. In the past, even when the team was losing, he adds, fans felt drawn to big personalities like Josh Norman and Steve Smith.

That’s a disconnect now between the fans and the players, Luttrell says. “There’s no (team) identity honestly,” he adds.

What’s more, there’s been a revolving door of executives leaving Tepper Sports & Entertainment in recent months that adds to the uncertainty about the organization. Among those who’ve left: Tom Glick (former team president), Mark Hart (former Tepper Sports COO) and Nick Kelly (former Tepper Sports CEO).

• A Tepper Sports representative did not respond to a request for comment.

Yes, but: Plenty of longtime Panthers fans remain loyal — and even hopeful about what’s to come under interim head coach Steve Wilks. Take Jeff Moore, for instance, who hasn’t missed a home game (except for preseason ones) in years.

• “I just want to see good football, get back to winning and not be the laughing stock of the NFL,” Moore says.

Fan Connor Blevins says he keeps coming back because he’s proud of where he’s from. “I think folks my age who are die hard Panthers fans and born locally feel a huge responsibility to prop up the fan base … we’re the first Panther lifers.”

PSL owner Patrick Nance wishes fans wouldn’t boo their home team — that’s happened enough recently at Bank of America Stadium. He also wants to remind dejected fans that sports are supposed to be fun.

• “If your hobby is making you so miserable that you find yourself being overtly negative publicly about everything – I feel you need a new hobby,” he says.

What’s next: The Panthers play at the Los Angeles Rams at 4:05pm Sunday.