The renovation of Bank of America Stadium now comes to $1.3 billion. The City of Charlotte is paying what it agreed to pay in 2024, and nothing more. Every dollar of the increase has come from David Tepper’s company, Tepper Sports & Entertainment, which this week appointed its insurance brokers for the job.
Who’s paying, and where the money comes from
Tepper Sports & Entertainment said on October 22 that it has selected Marsh, through its McGriff business, and Partners Risk Strategies, an independent commercial insurance firm headquartered in Charlotte, to broker the insurance program. The two firms will advise on, place and service coverage across all construction and renovation phases. On its own that’s a procurement notice. But hiring brokers to place construction coverage is the point where a project this size stops being renderings and starts being a building site, and TSE used the same announcement to say construction is on schedule.
The money moved in July. On July 23, the Associated Press reported that Tepper had added $500 million in private funding, lifting the project from its original $800 million. The city’s side was approved by Charlotte City Council in a 7-3 vote in June 2024, and it’s worth being precise about what kind of money it is: hospitality and tourism tax, meaning taxes on hotel rooms and on restaurant and bar tabs. TSE’s original $150 million was to be spent over the following four years. Overage costs are TSE’s to carry, and so is ongoing maintenance.
$650 million Charlotte’s contribution in 2024, and still Charlotte’s contribution today.
The same day, TSE announced a long-term extension of the Bank of America naming rights deal. Tepper, the company’s owner and chairman, said it “reflects the strength of our partnership.” No length and no financial terms were disclosed. For how these deals work, there’s our explainer on stadium naming rights.
The split, and what the same money builds
Here’s the split, before and after July.
| 2024 | After July 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| City of Charlotte | $650m | $650m |
| Tepper Sports & Entertainment | $150m | $650m |
| Total | $800m | $1.3bn |
| Public share | about 81% | 50% |
By our math, the public share of the project has fallen from about 81 percent to 50 percent, and TSE’s own stake has more than quadrupled. The $500 million is the reported figure; the percentages are what falls out of it.
A renovation isn’t a new build, but the comparison gives you the scale. Of the 114 stadiums in our catalogue that carry a build cost in US dollars, only six were built for $1.3 billion or more. The count is ours, and every figure below is nominal, not adjusted for inflation.
| Stadium | Built for | Opened |
|---|---|---|
| SoFi Stadium | $5.5bn | 2020 |
| Yankee Stadium | about $2.3bn | 2009 |
| Allegiant Stadium | about $1.9bn | 2020 |
| Mercedes-Benz Stadium | $1.6bn | 2017 |
| MetLife Stadium | $1.6bn | 2010 |
| Levi’s Stadium | $1.3bn | 2014 |
The bottom row is the one to sit with. The $1.3 billion going into a 1996 building is what it cost to build Levi’s Stadium from nothing in 2014, a 68,500-seat venue that hosted Super Bowl 50 eighteen months after it opened. The Panthers lost that game. Everything above it on the list, from MetLife Stadium up to SoFi Stadium, cost more to build new than Charlotte’s building will cost to renovate.
About $248 million What it cost to build Bank of America Stadium in the first place, privately, through personal seat licenses.
On our figures, the renovation comes to a little over five times the original construction bill. The building went up on private money, the renovation was drawn up to lean on public money, and it has ended up half and half.
What happens next
The sequence from here starts out of sight: interior work in 2026, then the fan-facing elements from 2027. The July reporting put completion at 2030. The work is phased so the stadium keeps hosting Carolina Panthers games and Charlotte FC matches throughout, which is the part that matters most to anyone with a season ticket.
The plan also includes a 4,400-capacity entertainment venue, intended to host 80 to 100 events a year, a calendar of its own alongside the football and the soccer.
The stadium opened in August 1996, designed by HOK Sport, now Populous, and holds 75,037 today. The building’s full history is on our Bank of America Stadium page.
