NFL fines Panthers owner David Tepper $300K. But will he take the punishment to heart?

Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper just bought the most expensive drink in NFL history.

What he needs to do now is actually learn something from it.

The NFL fined Tepper $300,000 Tuesday for unacceptable conduct after he was caught on video tossing a drink in the direction of some Jaguars fans about 48 hours earlier in Florida, toward the end of Carolina’s 26-0 loss to Jacksonville.

Tepper said in a statement issued by the Panthers on Tuesday evening: “I am deeply passionate about this team and regret my behavior on Sunday. I should have let NFL stadium security handle any issues that arose. I respect the NFL’s code of conduct and accept the League’s discipline for my behavior.”

As for that statement, it’s ... OK, but lacking something.

The word “apology” should have been somewhere in those three sentences. Say you’re sorry. It’s really not that hard.

The “deeply passionate” part is certainly true in Tepper’s case — he does care — but it’s irritating to use as an excuse, in the “I care so much and that’s why I got so mad at you” kind of way.

And the whole thing sounds a little too carefully parsed; a little too much like 17 lawyers read it first.

But for all that, the statement does at least say something, after two days of saying nothing.

As for the NFL’s fine amount:

To you and me, $300,000 sounds like a staggering amount of money. We could buy a new house with it. We could get out of debt. We could send a couple of kids to college. Let me rephrase that — we could send them to a public, in-state college.

But for Tepper, who is among the world’s 100 richest people and has an estimated worth of $20.6 billion according to Forbes, $300,000 is something you lose in the couch cushions. If a person had a net worth of $206,000, say, this would equate to a fine of $3.

Tepper also should consider himself fortunate the NFL didn’t suspend him, which was at least considered a possibility after this cartoonish piece of sports owner villainy.

Former Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams was fined $250,000 for flipping the bird at opposing fans in 2009. Tepper’s offense was far more personal and, to channel my Southern-ness for a second, it was just plain nasty. Especially in the post-COVID era.

Plus, you have to factor in inflation. So I would have put the fine at a million dollars instead of $300,000. Nice round number. Sends a better statement that fans should always come first and NFL owners must be held to a higher standard.

Honestly, though, the amount of money doesn’t really matter to Tepper. The embarrassment does.

Tepper can write checks for sums we can’t fathom, but he’s also extremely sensitive to the court of public opinion. He wants to be liked, to be the guy next door who just happens to be a billionaire but who will also have a beer with you, as opposed to one who would throw it on you.

So there’s that. This is going to hurt him a little, believe me. But from a football standpoint, all that will really matter is this:

Tepper is about to try to hire another head coach. He has already fired three NFL head coaches in the middle of the season even though he has only owned the team since 2018. And now there’s this video evidence of his temper. You have to think this is going to narrow the field of candidates.

In other words, if you’re a young, ambitious and talented offensive coordinator like Detroit’s Ben Johnson who may have several job opportunities, why would you pick this one?

Panthers, Tepper must market themselves

Even with all the zeroes attached to the next head coach’s contract, Tepper and the Panthers will have to market themselves, too, to all potential coaches. They have to climb out of a hole of their own making.

It’s worth noting, incidentally, that this isn’t even close to the largest fine levied by the NFL on a Panthers owner.

Former team owner Jerry Richardson was fined nearly 10 times as much as Tepper in 2018 after the NFL investigated Richardson’s workplace misconduct. Richardson was fined $2.75 million (he was already selling the team to Tepper by the time that fine was announced).

So what’s next, besides one more loss for the Panthers on Sunday vs. Tampa Bay at home to close out an inglorious season?

I just hope for Tepper this can be a lesson. You don’t get to do anything you want without consequences, no matter how “deeply passionate” you are. And let’s pause for a second to consider: If a fan threw a drink on a player, or an owner, and said they did it because of how “deeply passionate” they are about the sport, how would that play out?

Yes, it’s only a monetary slap on the wrist, but it was always going to be that. The embarrassment is the more important aspect. The fact that the video has run practically non-stop for two days on NFL-related channels and newscasts, instead of something positive about the Panthers, is humiliating.

I hear you chortling at that.

Something positive about the Panthers? What would that feel like?

Hope actually does exist for Panthers

The Panthers are an NFL-worst 2-14, have traded away what would have been the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft, have posted six straight losing seasons under Tepper, have Bank of America stadium routinely taken over by opposing fans and have an owner who makes news for all the wrong reasons. Not great.

But hope exists, Panthers fans. The NFL is set up to be an up-and-down league. No team stays 2-14 forever. The Panthers’ 1-15 season of 2001 led to a Super Bowl in 2003.

It’s going to eventually get better, whether Tepper is around to see it happen or not. One day, people will be throwing confetti around here again, rather than drinks. I promise.

But for that to happen under Tepper, if he’s going to stick around:

▪ He’s got to control his most impetuous impulses.

▪ He’s got to put some people around him who will say “no.”

▪ And most of all, for God’s sake, he’s got to sign the checks — including this one for $300,000 — and then get the heck out of the way.