0:02

The Panthers vice president of Stadium Operation,

0:05

Scott Paul was green as a gordon

0:07

when he first joined John Richardson's staff

0:09

in the early days of stadium construction,

0:11

and all learned some key lessons from

0:13

his first boss. He was my first mentor.

0:16

He was always interested

0:18

in you never wanted to talk about him.

0:20

I mean, just just as good as you can get

0:23

human being from those humble beginnings

0:25

to the man in charge of the stadium.

0:27

Let's visit with Scott Paul next on

0:29

the podcast twenty

0:32

five Seasons of Panthers Football,

0:34

a celebration of the players, coaches,

0:36

and other people who have contributed to the

0:39

organizational success. No to

0:42

mcmixon. In

0:44

the early days, the stadium was named Ericson

0:46

Stadium. Then it became Bank of America Stadium.

0:48

But those are just economic concerns. The

0:51

stadium really should be named Scott

0:53

Paul Stadium because no one person

0:55

has done more to to get it

0:57

built, to get it up fitted, to

0:59

see that it operates smoothly than

1:02

our guest on the podcast, our vice president

1:04

of Stadium Operations, Scott Paul,

1:06

who's been here since what day, day one?

1:08

Scott, No, actually so

1:12

right before we got our certificate

1:14

of occupancy for the stadium here.

1:16

I was not with the team when we played

1:18

down in Clemson. How did you get

1:20

the gig? UH? I was

1:22

actually at the University of Georgia and

1:24

UM, I needed to do a practicum

1:27

to finish up my degree. Everybody

1:30

at University of Georgia wanted to work at the University

1:32

of Georgia, so there's a ton of competition. I

1:34

wanted to work there too, UM,

1:36

but I just started putting out feelers and

1:39

UM. At the time, the stadium

1:41

was under construction. John Richardson

1:43

at the time needed UH to build a staff

1:47

and he interviewed ten people

1:49

one day and I was the last

1:51

person to be interviewed, and the other guy that got

1:53

the job was the first person to be interviewed. And

1:56

we we came on as as seasonal interns

1:58

and we had to earn a job and we both

2:01

did and the rest is history.

2:03

What qualities do you felt like you brought

2:06

from the University of Georgia to to Charlotte

2:08

in those days? UM, there's a funny

2:11

story about UM.

2:13

Chris Polian, whose Bills son

2:16

at the time, when the team UH was

2:18

here, UM, they asked him what his

2:20

quality was too to be

2:22

in football operations, and he said, I

2:24

I know when to order pepperoni or cheese.

2:27

Um. When when we were sitting down with John to

2:30

interview, he was he was pulling out his calendar

2:33

and he said when are you available, and I said, well, here's

2:35

my finals. I could be available the next day and

2:37

he said, great, We're moving into

2:39

the stadium starting that

2:41

that day. And so the qualities were

2:43

I needed to be able to lift heavy

2:45

things. That's

2:48

it. Let's talk about

2:50

John Richardson for a bit. Mr Richardson's

2:52

oldest son, who passed away

2:55

very tragically, of course, had a thigh

2:57

moment, which is a cancer of the plura, a

2:59

line of the lung. He

3:02

had the gift of humility, right, I mean, for

3:04

all of his successes, you couldn't

3:06

get him to hold still long enough to

3:08

receive a compliment. What what do you What was your relationship

3:10

like with with John Richardson? Uh,

3:13

well, he he was my first mentor.

3:15

It was not my first job I

3:17

worked. I had a couple of different jobs before I ended

3:19

up going to the Uversity of Georgia, but um, he

3:22

was my first mentor. He was always

3:25

interested in you never wanted to talk

3:27

about him. And that was before you

3:29

know, his health issues, and after his health

3:32

issues. I mean, just just

3:34

as good as you can get a human being.

3:37

UM. People still ask me about him today.

3:40

Uh. They always remember that he

3:42

went out of his way to help them or

3:44

to speak to them or Ryan

3:47

Petrice has worked here at the stadium

3:49

for years and does a phenomenal job with our guest

3:51

relations program. He tells a story about he

3:54

was He was moving tables off a freight elevator,

3:56

UM, his first year there, and John walked

3:59

by and just stopped what he was doing to

4:01

help him get everything off the freight over. I mean, that's

4:03

just the kind of guy John was. And

4:05

and UM, I mean I've

4:07

have I've had a few good mentors here

4:10

UM working with the Panthers,

4:12

but he was. He was one of the best.

4:14

And and we missed him a lot. Did

4:17

you talk to him much, Scott Paul after he got

4:19

sick, I did. I stayed in touch with him, UM

4:22

regularly because that was his baby, right.

4:24

He was integrity involved in the in

4:26

the building of that stadium. UM.

4:29

We we talked regularly. He was always

4:31

interested in new events that we were bringing to the stadium

4:33

or what construction we were working on coming up

4:35

next, and had lunch with them periodically

4:38

and and um, yeah,

4:40

yeah, that was that was a tough day when he decided

4:43

to retire. An amazing human

4:45

being. John Richardson a hugely

4:47

important part of the history of

4:49

our franchise. Scott Paul, vice

4:52

President Stadium Ops, our guest on the podcast

4:54

Your Job, Scott strikes me as

4:56

sort of a physician and your one

4:58

patient is this stadium.

5:01

Is there ever a time when you're not on call? No,

5:04

I think you have to be uh in this

5:06

business. Um. And and it's

5:09

so much more than than events, right,

5:11

I mean, something could happen in the middle of the night.

5:14

Um, there's you know, security issues,

5:16

there's plumbing fixture

5:18

leaks or pipes breaking or

5:21

uh, you know, events at different

5:23

hours. Um. But I think that's just the nature

5:25

of the business and you just you live with it. When

5:29

the stadium was being built, was it always

5:31

going to be here in this spot?

5:33

You know, that's a good question. Um. So

5:36

I'm probably not the best person to ask about that. I

5:38

know a little bit about um.

5:40

You know, they looked at the speedway area.

5:43

Uh, they looked in uh in South

5:45

Carolina. They and they looked in this

5:47

area, and I think Mr Richson ultimately

5:49

decided on this location because

5:52

he wanted he wanted the best fan experience

5:54

that that our fans could get. He

5:57

wanted an easy way to get into

5:59

the to the stay at um, he wanted an easy

6:01

way for fans to get out. Uh.

6:03

The proximity to to seventy seven and seventy

6:06

seven made that happen. Our dump times

6:08

still can you know, our our forty

6:10

five minutes to fifty minutes even when

6:12

everybody stays towards the end of the game. So

6:15

it was a great decision on his part. I think, um,

6:18

uh it's I think it's spurred a lot of economic

6:21

activity down in uptown Charlotte. When

6:23

I got here, this place closed down at

6:25

five thirty and it was a ghost

6:27

town uptown. And and I think

6:29

the Panthers building here was was

6:31

a catalyst, um partially to

6:33

what's happened in and uptown which is spectacular

6:36

today. Was there anything buried underground,

6:39

any Indian artifacts or

6:41

transmission fluid or anything that you guys

6:43

found when the stadium was being built? Uh

6:47

again, I you know, I

6:49

think I was in San Diego when we started construction

6:52

here, not even at the University of Georgia yet, but I

6:55

know, I know when they finished, they buried

6:57

a lot of construction materials that

6:59

a lot outside the stadium, which has caused

7:01

us issues. Um, you know some of our hospitality

7:04

areas with drainage and such. But you know,

7:06

I'm not aware of of much I know. Um

7:09

uh, you know, we did run into some

7:11

some some rock. Um. We

7:13

we which we had some great pictures

7:16

of where we ran into some granite, uh

7:19

underneath the field. Um.

7:21

And when we had to do field work, those we

7:24

went back to those pictures from to

7:27

rebuild the fields. So that was

7:30

I mean, I think Charlotte's just built on a bunch of

7:32

granite. Yeah, that's very cool, Scott

7:34

Paul our guests on the the show. What are the challenges

7:37

Scott of an in town an uptown

7:39

stadium.

7:41

Well, I think we've always we've

7:44

always recognized the financial

7:46

impact of of building here, right.

7:48

Um. If you if you would have built up at

7:51

the Speedway area, you could

7:53

have had, uh, you know, twenty thousand

7:55

parking spaces, the revenue associated

7:57

with it, the game day's

8:00

sperience that comes with the traditional

8:02

football tailgate uh. And

8:04

and from a financial at standpoint, that's really

8:06

hindered us UM over the years not

8:09

having that UM it's a it's

8:11

a massive challenge for US year

8:13

or even year over year UM

8:15

getting uh you know people

8:18

here to come and work, and where do they park and how

8:20

do we shuttle them in? And and then of course

8:22

the fans, right, the fans have to I

8:24

mean surface parking lots are going away

8:26

in Uptown area and UM

8:28

and structured parking is becoming more of the game

8:30

day experience. And so we've we we always talk about

8:33

how do we capture that UM, that experiential

8:36

piece for the fans Since they're parking in a structure

8:39

parking deck and have to walk to the stadium,

8:41

what can we do? And and there's a lot of people in

8:43

this organization have done a lot of great things

8:45

from hospitality, uh

8:47

you know the kids Combine UM,

8:50

the Atrium Dome that we're programming now, and I

8:52

mean a lot of people this organization are trying to give

8:55

these fans a place to go to celebrate,

8:57

you know, that tailgate experience before kickoff.

9:00

It's got Paul VP of Stadium Ops. When I

9:02

first started working here and for some years

9:04

after, there was this one little strip

9:06

of land that had

9:09

a headg Yeah, tell tell about

9:11

that. Yeah. So um

9:14

the effort property was right there at the corner

9:16

of Graham and Uh and

9:18

Mint Street, and um

9:20

it was a piece of land of property

9:23

that that the city um couldn't

9:25

acquire uh prior to construction

9:28

and so um why

9:31

couldn't they acquire it? You know? I think

9:34

I think the cost, the cost was too

9:36

great from what the landowner was

9:38

was asking for, and it just

9:40

became something that continued to

9:43

become a thorn. I think

9:45

in in Mr Richarond's side and Richard

9:47

Bigpen side at the time of our attorney

9:50

and um, so so we I

9:52

think at some point during the construction progress

9:54

project, they just assumed that this wasn't

9:57

gonna happen. And I

9:59

think anbody who's coming to Panther Stadium knows that

10:01

we we we are. Our landscape is

10:04

very important to us, the tree, canopy, the flowers.

10:06

So we put a big old wax myrtle around

10:09

the fence, and um it took a long

10:11

time to grow up. And I remember a funny

10:13

story back then in

10:16

UM that the San Francisco forty Niners

10:18

were our big nemesis. Right, we're

10:20

in the NFC West and and um,

10:23

the the the Effort

10:26

family put a sign up there in

10:28

the middle of it that said for sale. And

10:31

uh. Next thing, you know, that picture

10:33

was circulating around the building and

10:35

Mr Richsond has sent Carmen policy and note

10:37

saying we give up. Um, we're gonna sell the team

10:39

because we can't beach and uhum.

10:42

But anyways, fast forward to um,

10:44

gosh, fifteen years later, Um,

10:47

Richard had maintained a relationship with the

10:49

Effort family. We were getting ready to undergo,

10:53

you know, a hundred and seventy five million dollar renovation

10:55

project, and that piece of property

10:58

became really next necessary

11:00

for us to add that vertical circulation

11:02

we did with the escalators, and um,

11:04

we're able to acquire the property and

11:07

um now it's just a beautiful, um, you

11:09

know, plaza area out there. Our

11:11

legends row and we're able to push

11:13

out twenty eight feet at those escalators

11:15

and really improve the game to experience

11:17

for our fans. Scott's humble, like John

11:20

Richardson, is hard to get him to uh to accept

11:22

the the

11:25

compliments on anything, but he's done a

11:27

mate. How to how was it that you and

11:30

your staff. Uh put

11:32

that renovation on your shoulders and made it happen.

11:34

Scott, Well, you can't

11:36

do it with with with our staff,

11:38

right. It took a lot of people, UM,

11:41

great partners, architects, builders,

11:44

UM. Jackie Slovetski was

11:46

critical to the success of the project. Who

11:48

still works UM on our on

11:50

our construction projects today. UM.

11:52

Good coordination time you have. You have

11:55

to have the time to do it. You're you're typically working

11:57

on the preview, you know, the next year's project

11:59

in the year the you're working UM

12:01

during football season so that you're ready to go

12:04

UM January one or January fift whenever

12:06

we could do it. UM.

12:08

But really, you know, just a lot of good

12:11

contractors, good vendors, good

12:13

people working on that project to

12:16

get that done in five years. A couple

12:18

of last questions for you, Mr Tepper,

12:20

David Tepper, our our our new owner, current

12:22

owner has been very open about his desire

12:24

to bring soccer here. Looks like it's gonna

12:26

happen. How will that change your job and what

12:28

the stadium looks and feels like. Yeah,

12:31

so, UM, it's

12:33

interesting. I think UM. I've started

12:35

to do a little bit of work to understand what

12:38

that's going to look like. And and so

12:40

we just had uh some folks um

12:43

uh do an overlay of of what

12:46

February through October would look like

12:48

for um, the Atlanta

12:51

United and Falcons, for Seattle

12:53

Seahawks, Sounders and form

12:57

I'm trying to think the third one anyways, just

12:59

just what that impact looks like from

13:02

an MLS scheduling standpoint, if we're

13:04

fortunate enough to get the team an NFL scheduling

13:06

standpoint, and then where the gaps

13:08

that we can fill in during those busy,

13:11

busy times for other events. UM.

13:13

Dave has been very clear, this is an asset bank

13:16

from Eric Stadium. We want to program

13:18

it. We want a program for the community.

13:20

UM. We've got a very exciting without

13:23

that MLS UM scheduling

13:26

component. UM, but we're gonna have to

13:28

deal that that hopefully in the very

13:30

very near future. But it is going

13:32

to be busy, UM busy

13:34

with uh you know, seventeen to twenty

13:37

soccer games, ten football games will

13:39

still do our college football, international soccer,

13:42

you know, a few concerts in between there. So it's

13:44

exciting, exciting times. What's

13:46

on your wish list for the stadium moving

13:48

forward? Oh

13:50

gosh, that's a good question.

13:53

Um,

13:57

everybody at home going, well, new kitchen, new

13:59

bathroom, us what I want from my house? Yeah, I

14:01

think we have to react, right, we have to react

14:03

to what's coming and what's potentially coming.

14:05

So we're waiting. We're waiting to see what happens

14:08

with MLS and and and it's funny

14:10

you say, we do need a kitchen. If we're gonna if

14:12

we're gonna program additional premium

14:14

spaces, which we're looking at, um

14:17

for the future, we're gonna need that. We're

14:19

gonna we're gonna do more events on our club level.

14:21

We're gonna need something like that. Um.

14:24

I love the stadium. It's a great stadium.

14:26

Uh, it's a bowl. It gets loud.

14:29

Um. You know, we we've done a lot to

14:31

really improve the fan experience. So there's

14:33

not a lot on the wish list other than, hey, let's

14:35

figure out how to do different and exciting

14:38

events, right, and I think our

14:40

fans are going to see that in sounds

14:43

awesome. Last thing, we'll let you go, Scott

14:45

Paul, our guest on the show, vice president Stadium

14:47

mops. You've done so much since you've been here, Scott

14:49

and a lot yet to do. But of

14:51

of what that you've accomplished, are you most

14:53

proud? Well,

14:58

I think there's a couple things. So um

15:02

we we UM. We

15:04

were fortunate enough to be selected in two

15:06

thousand twelve two to

15:09

host the Democratic National Convention and

15:12

uh that was a massive, massive undertaking

15:16

for the city, for the stadium,

15:18

for our staff. Um.

15:21

Uh we were ready when

15:23

when ultimately they made the decision to

15:26

to cancel the stadium and moved to Time

15:28

Warner. So it's actually my biggest regret also,

15:31

So that's one. Um, it was a lot of fun

15:34

doing working with that group,

15:36

working with the city, watching the city

15:38

come together, um for a massive,

15:40

massive event. Um.

15:43

And then there was the NFC Championship game.

15:45

Um. We are not good

15:48

at removing snow from the stadium.

15:50

We've only had to do it a couple of times. And right

15:53

before the NFC Championship game, we've got

15:55

we got um fifteen

15:58

inches of snow and ice and uh

16:01

it was just really satisfying coming

16:03

to just seeing how our staff

16:05

pulled together. We didn't really know what

16:07

we were doing, but we had an idea how to do it.

16:10

Um. We even had people from the speedway

16:13

calling to ask that we needed help,

16:15

and and and they helped us and

16:17

and and getting that stadium ready for

16:20

the best Panther event in our

16:23

history and a win was

16:25

probably the best, um, you know, status,

16:28

most satisfying experience. And and it's

16:30

it's interesting the people

16:32

that still work with us today and stadium operations

16:34

talk about that today and how we came together

16:37

and the challenges of that. We're not We're

16:39

not set up like Lambeau has all that snow

16:41

today and yesterday. They have shoot

16:43

systems. It's easy for them to move snow out

16:45

of the building. Well, we don't have any of that, and we just

16:47

had to figure it out. In the South, a shoot

16:49

system is shoot. What are we gonna do with

16:52

all this snow? That's exactly

16:55

probably said something different than I know, Yeah

16:57

we might, but not not on the podcast here talking

17:00

with us from Scott Paul Stadium has been Scott

17:02

Paul, Vice president of Stadium Ops. Appreciate

17:04

your brother, thanks for what you do. Yeah, thank you. We'll

17:09

continue our historical perspective of

17:11

the first quarter century of Panther football

17:13

next time right here on the podcast