Starting Monday, the Carolina Panthers will be auctioning off some of the largest sports memorabilia in NFL history. With the new and revised team logos, the team officials found a more useful and beneficial way to getting rid of the old things.
The auction, which will be supervised through the NFL auction site, will end Aug. 20 with the proceeds going to the team’s Keep Pounding Fund at Carolina’s HealthCare Foundation. The foundation supports cancer research at the Levine Cancer Institute and the Levine Children’s Hospital.
The biggest auction items include three 19-foot-high and 34-foot-wide Panther heads that were plastered on the backs of the scoreboards at Bank of America Stadium in 2004.
According to the Charlotte Observer, one of the Panther’s biggest fans, Dan Ortel, is not concerned about the size of the items. Ortel, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s “Pro Football Ultimate Fan Association” said in regards to acquiring a Panther head: “What’s cool about them is they’re timeless.They capture a point in history. Teams go through uniform and logo changes, and these Panther heads are a throwback, an original. It’s like owning an original Coke bottle”
Other items up for auction include a 6-foot by 17-foot strip of the stadium’s field vinyl wall cover, and a 60-inche by 70-inche section of a wall mural with autographs from all the 2011 players.
This is not the first time the team has held auctions for charity. Back in 2004, 16 sections of stadium turf were auctioned. These sections were linked to the big plays in 2003 that lead the Panthers to the Super Bowl. The 4-inch by 4-inch divisions sold for as much as $500 and the auction raised a total of $4,000.
The Panthers hope these items, despite their sizes, will raise a lot for charity.
By Cheri Cheng
