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The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member team of the National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The club is owned by Jerry Richardson, who also founded it. The team is worth approximately USD $1 billion, according to ''Forbes'',〔 and is controlled by Richardson and his family, who have a 48 percent stake. The remainder of the team is held by a group of 14 limited partners. The head coach is Ron Rivera. The team president is Danny Morrison. The Panthers first competed in 1995. The team played its home games at Memorial Stadium, located on the campus of Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina, during the 1995 season while awaiting the completion of their home stadium in Charlotte. The Panthers played well in their first two years, finishing in 1995 (an all-time best for an NFL expansion team's first season). They lost their first game to the Atlanta Falcons 23–20. In their second year of play, the Panthers finished with a record of 12-4, winning the NFC West and ultimately losing to the eventual super bowl champion Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship game. They did not have another winning season until 2003, when the team won the NFC Championship Game and reached Super Bowl XXXVIII, losing 32–29 to the New England Patriots. After recording playoff appearances in 2005 and 2008, the team failed to record another playoff appearance until 2013, when they finished with a record and won the NFC South. The Panthers have made the playoffs six times, reaching the NFC Championship Game in three of them. They have won five division titles, one of them in the NFC West and four of them in the NFC South. The Carolina Panthers are legally registered as Panther Football, LLC. The team is headquartered in Bank of America Stadium, located in uptown Charlotte; the stadium also serves as the team's home field. The Panthers are one of the few teams in the NFL to own the stadium they play in, which is legally registered as Panthers Stadium, LLC. The Panthers are supported throughout the Carolinas; although the team has played their home games in Charlotte since the completion of their stadium in 1996, they played home games in Clemson, South Carolina, during their first season, and they host their annual training camp in Spartanburg, South Carolina. At home games, the atmosphere has been described as comparable to that of other NFL teams, with some games playing host to a large number of fans of the opposing team; this has been attributed to several factors, such as the city's relatively recent entry into the NFL, the popularity of basketball in the Charlotte region, and the large number of Charlotte residents who are originally from other cities with NFL teams. The Panthers' uniforms consist of black, white, and blue jerseys paired with white and silver pants, a pattern which has only seen minor changes since the team's inception. ==History== On December 15, 1987, entrepreneur Jerry Richardson announced his bid for an NFL expansion franchise in the Carolinas. A native of North Carolina, Richardson was a former wide receiver on the Baltimore Colts who had used his 1959 league championship bonus to co-found the Hardee's chain of restaurants and served as president and CEO of TW Services. Richardson drew his inspiration to pursue an NFL franchise from George Shinn, who had made a successful bid for an expansion team in Charlotte, the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Richardson founded Richardson Sports, a partnership consisting of himself and his family; a number of businessmen from North and South Carolina were also recruited to be limited partners in the group. Richardson looked at four potential locations for a stadium, ultimately choosing uptown Charlotte. To highlight the demand for professional football in the Carolinas, Richardson Sports held a preseason game in the region in 1989, 1990, and 1991. The first two games were held in Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, respectively, while the third and final game was held at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina. The matchups were between existing NFL teams. In 1991, the group formally filed an application for the open expansion spot, and on October 23, 1993, the 28 NFL owners unanimously named the Carolina Panthers as the 29th member of the NFL.〔 The Panthers first competed in the 1995 NFL season; they were one of two expansion teams to begin playing that year, with the other being the Jacksonville Jaguars.〔 The Panthers were put in the NFC West to increase the size of that division to five teams; there were already two other southeastern teams in the division, the Atlanta Falcons and the New Orleans Saints, prior to their founding. Former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Dom Capers was named the first head coach. The team finished its inaugural season with a record, the best performance ever from a first-year expansion team. They performed even better in their second season, finishing with a regular season record and winning the NFC West division, and a first-round bye. The Panthers beat the Dallas Cowboys in the divisional round before losing the NFC Championship Game to the eventual Super Bowl champions, the Green Bay Packers. The team managed only a finish in 1997 and slipped to in 1998, leading to Capers' dismissal as head coach.〔 The Panthers hired former San Francisco 49ers head coach George Seifert to replace Capers, and he led the team to an record in 1999. However, the team finished in 2000 and fell to in 2001, winning their first game but losing their last 15. This performance tied the NFL record for most losses in a single season and it broke the record held by the winless 1976 Buccaneers for most consecutive losses in a single season (both records have later been broken by the 2008 Lions), leading the Panthers to fire Seifert. After the NFL's expansion to 32 teams in 2002, the Panthers were relocated from the NFC West to the newly created NFC South division; The Panthers' rivalries with the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints were maintained, but they would be joined by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from the NFC Central (now known as the NFC North). New York Giants defensive coordinator John Fox was hired to replace Seifert and led the team to a finish in 2002. Although the team's defense gave up very few yards, ranking the second-best in the NFL in terms of yards conceded, they were hindered by an offense that gained very few yards, ranking as the second-worst in the league in terms of yards gained. The Panthers improved to in the 2003 regular season, winning the NFC South and making it to Super Bowl XXXVIII before losing to the New England Patriots 32–29 in what was immediately hailed by sportswriter Peter King as the "Greatest Super Bowl of all time". King felt the game "was a wonderful championship battle, full of everything that makes football dramatic, draining, enervating, maddening, fantastic, exciting" and praised, among other things, the unpredictability, coaching, and conclusion. The game is still viewed as one of the best Super Bowls of all time, and in the opinion of Charlotte-based NPR reporter Scott Jagow, the Panthers' Super Bowl appearance represented the arrival of Charlotte onto the national scene. Following a rocky start in 2004, the Panthers rebounded to win six of their last seven games despite losing 14 players for the season due to injury. They lost their last game to New Orleans, finishing the 2004 season at . Had they won the game, the Panthers would have made the playoffs. The team improved to in 2005, finishing second in the division behind Tampa Bay and clinching a playoff berth as a wild-card. In the first round of the playoffs, the Panthers went on the road to face the New York Giants, beating them 23–0 for the NFL's first playoff shutout against a home team since 1980. The following week, they beat Chicago 29–21 on the road, but lost key players Julius Peppers, a defensive end, and DeShaun Foster, a running back, who were both injured during the game. The Panthers were then defeated 34–14 by the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game, ending their season. Although the Panthers went into the 2006 season as favorites to win the NFC South, they finished with a disappointing record.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Playoff-bound Saints rest key starters in loss to Panthers )〕 The team finished the 2007 season with a record after losing quarterback Jake Delhomme early in the season due to an elbow injury. In 2008, the Panthers finished with a regular season record, winning the NFC South and securing a first-round bye. However, they were eliminated in the divisional round of the playoffs, losing 33–13 to the Arizona Cardinals after Delhomme turned the ball over six times. Delhomme's struggles carried over into the 2009 season, where he threw 18 interceptions in the first 11 games before breaking a finger in his throwing hand. The Panthers were at a record before Delhomme's season-ending injury, and his backup, Matt Moore, led the team to a finish to the season for an overall record. In 2010, after releasing Delhomme in the offseason, the Panthers had the worst record () and the worst offense in the league. John Fox's contract expired after the season ended, and the team did not retain him or his staff. They hired Ron Rivera to replace Fox as head coach and drafted Auburn quarterback Cam Newton with the first overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. The Panthers opened the 2011 season , but finished with a record,〔 and Newton was awarded the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year award after setting the NFL record for most rushing touchdowns from a quarterback (14) in a single season and becoming the first rookie NFL quarterback to throw for over 4,000 yards in a single season. He also was the first rookie quarterback to rush for over 500 yards in a single season. In 2012, the Panthers again opened the season poorly, losing five out of their first six games, leading longtime general manager Marty Hurney to be fired in response. The team slid to a record before winning five of their last six games, resulting in a record. This strong finish helped save Rivera's job.〔 The Panthers would have a winning season the following year, finishing with a record and winning their third NFC South title and another playoff bye, however they would be beaten by the 49ers in the Divisional Round. In 2014, the Panthers opened the season with two wins, but after 12 games sat at only due in part to a seven-game winless streak. This included a 37–37 tie against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 6, the first ever tie game in franchise history as well as the highest scoring overtime tie in NFL history. However, a four-game winning streak to end the season secured the team their second consecutive NFC South championship and playoff berth, despite a losing record of . The Panthers defeated the Arizona Cardinals 27–16 in the wild card round to secure a spot in the divisional playoffs, where they lost to Seattle 17–31. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Carolina Panthers」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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