Excitement about Panthers goes beyond stands January 3
Charlotte Observer
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"Substitute the scissors and clippers for helmets and shoulder pads, and Fourth Ward Barber and Styling could almost pass for the Carolina Panthers locker room.
The seven barbers wear jackets of black, blue and silver instead of classic white coats. Customers wear black capes with blue and silver stripes down the front.
Just nine blocks from Bank of America Stadium, the barbershop also illustrates the range of fans who have watched the Panthers' playoff push. While co-owner Woodie Daniels Sr. owns a permanent seat license (PSL) and has missed only one home game ever in Charlotte, co-owner Gene Winchester said he has been to only one home game. And that was eight years ago.
Winchester said he hasn't been able to get tickets in recent years. He usually watches the Panthers in the barbershop, which is closed Sundays but sometimes has up to 30 people watching the two TV sets that hang near the big Panthers logos on the walls.
A former Houston Oilers fan, Winchester said he has rooted for the Panthers since their first season in 1995, less than a year after he and Daniels opened the shop decked out in the team's colors. Also, since the Panthers are what most customers talk about on Mondays, he said, watching every game is good for business.
"You have to do that," he said.
Such devotion without seeing the Panthers in person shows how the team's fan base stretches beyond the 73,504-person capacity of Bank of America Stadium. For everyone in the crowd who rises for a big play, someone elsewhere springs from a sofa and cheers at the TV screen.
Consider Kerrie Carter of Huntersville. As a marketing director for Chick-fil-A, Carter said she plans promotions around the Panthers. She also walks by the stadium every year during the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.
Yet the "raving fan" has never seen her team in person, mostly because of the cost of taking a family of five to a game. Instead, Carter has photos of herself next to the Panthers statues outside the gates.
"That is the closest to the stadium I have been," she said.
High cost, low availability
For many fans, ticket cost and availability are top reasons why they've never been to a game. The average ticket price this season was about $63, less than the NFL average of about $72. Prices per game ranged from $38 to $100.
But to get season tickets - about 90 percent of all tickets - you must own a PSL. This season, those one-time costs, which the team uses to pay off stadium construction, ranged from $3,000 to $20,000 a seat."
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