With construction having been halted for over a month on the Carolina Panthers’ new headquarters in Rock Hill, some people, including state Sen. Michael Johnson, are beginning to question if the project will ever resume.
“In a way, from my perspective at least, you have a petulant billionaire who wants to hold everybody hostage,” Johnson told The Johnsonian last week. “I thought Ronald Reagan said it best — you don’t negotiate with terrorists — and we can’t be held hostage to the Panthers.”
Johnson, who was elected to the South Carolina Senate in November of 2020, previously served as the York County Council Chairman.
He held that position in April of 2020, when the York County Council voted 4-3 in favor of a financial plan that required Rock Hill to waive 100% of its property taxes from the Panthers project for 30 years, the Rock Hill school district to waive 75%, and York County to waive 65%.
“I have never believed that the Panthers would live up to all of their obligations,” Johnson said. “That’s why I voted against this two years ago. And I probably would have voted against it a few weeks ago.”
The recent vote that Johnson referred to was a vote by the York County Council on a new financial proposal (which the Panthers have not yet agreed to) that would essentially have the Panthers foot the bill up front, and in turn, be repaid in tax credits.
Johnson added that without all the information, it’s hard to criticize or praise the council’s decision, though he said he “can’t believe that York County could do anything more to try to make this happen than what they’ve already done.”
After the council’s vote in 2020, Johnson expressed concerns to The Johnsonain that the Panthers might not stay in Rock Hill long enough for a “payoff” to happen. He said now he isn’t too surprised that the project stalled.
“Through all of the negotiations, I never thought the Panthers would live up to a 30-year obligation to both the county and the city. What I didn’t realize at the time is that they wouldn’t even live up to a two-year obligation to us,” Johnson said. “It is a shame for all involved, but I’m not overly surprised.”
Johnson expressed displeasure in the fact that the current pause in construction is negatively impacting people who were planning to make a living in Rock Hill for the next few years, working diligently to build the Panthers’ facility in a first-class manner and have it open on time.
“The Panthers just didn’t walk away from York County. They’ve walked away from the people of York County and the people whose incomes were going to be derived from building this facility,” he said.
Though not optimistic about the future of the Panthers in Rock Hill, Johnson did suggest that there could still be a positive outcome if the Panthers permanently abandon the project.
“From a just pure tax sense, to me, it’s a win if we can then replace that with good commercial and industrial properties that will generate revenue for the taxpayers of York County, because that’s one of the things that the Panthers were not going to do,” Johnson said. “They were not going to pay a dime of taxes to Rock Hill. And they were paying very little taxes to the school district or to the county.
“The question is — what happens to that property? Does David Tepper sell that property, and then someone can develop it and it can become useful for the area? Or does he sit on it and continue to be this petulant child who wants it his way or no way?”
While the Panthers haven’t completely abandoned Rock Hill yet, Johnson said what happens next is up to Panthers owner David Tepper.
“It’s his time to make a move,” Johnson said. “And if he’s not going to invest in York County, then what he needs to do is divest his interest in York County and allow us to find somebody who wants to be here and who’s willing to grow with us over the years.”
