Panthers Owner Tepper Hires Law Head After Bias, HQ Allegations

The Carolina Panthers have a permanent general counsel for the first time since 2020 as the team wrestles with allegations of racial bias in hiring and an investigation into a scuttled $800 million headquarters plan.

Tanya Taylor, who was the first Black woman to hold the general counsel job at Radisson Hotel Group Americas, announced her new top legal role with the Panthers on LinkedIn after team owner David Tepper said her hire and several others show he’s trying to break up the NFL’s “old boys’ network.”

“I’m incredibly excited about the opportunity to pivot from my career in the hospitality industry to enter the sports and entertainment business, and looking forward to relocating to Charlotte as my new home this summer,” Taylor said in her post.

The Panthers have received criticism for passing over Black interim head coach Steve Wilks, who guided to the team to a 6-6 finish last season, in favor of Frank Reich, a White man who had been fired by the Indianapolis Colts, for the team’s permanent job.

Wilks is one of three Black football coaches suing the NFL for alleged racial bias. Douglas Wigdor, a prominent trial lawyer advising Wilks and other plaintiffs in their lawsuit, said in a statement that the league has “a legitimate race problem.”

The fallout from the decision on a new head coach came after Tepper and a company he owns, GT Real Estate Holdings, settled litigation in December that had been filed by South Carolina municipalities over the failed construction of a proposed Panthers headquarters and training facility in the state.

Tepper and GT Real Estate are also reportedly facing a criminal investigation over the use of public funds for the uncompleted project.

Taylor and the Panthers didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Radisson Role

Taylor was born and raised in New Jersey, a state where Tepper, a hedge fund billionaire, has longstanding ties.

During her three-decade legal career working in private practice and in the hospitality and media industries, Taylor has supported racial justice initiatives and efforts to connect and mentor Black executives.

Radisson hired Taylor in 2021 as general counsel for the company’s US headquarters in suburban Minneapolis. She left the hotel chain last year after Choice Hotels International Inc. completed its purchase in August of Radisson’s US hospitality franchise for $675 million.

Choice Hotels general counsel Simone Wu confirmed via email that she is now the top lawyer for the combined company.

Taylor is the team’s first general counsel since the Panthers parted ways in 2020 with former legal chief and director of compliance Stephen Argeris, now part of the sports practice at Hogan Lovells.

Argeris took on the job in 2018 after Tepper terminated the team’s former top lawyer after buying the Panthers for $2.3 billion from Jerry Richardson Sr., a former NFL player and Hardee’s restaurant franchisee. Richardson died last week at 86, the Panthers announced March 2.

Tepper’s Turbulence

Since taking over the Panthers, Tepper and the team have found scant success on the field and turmoil away from it.

Wilks joined the high-profile NFL bias case filed last year by Brian Flores. Wigdor said he and his client were were “shocked and disturbed” to see Wilks “passed over for the head coach position by David Tepper.”

During a news conference a month ago to announce Reich as the new Panthers head coach, Tepper said he was committed to ending an “old boys’ network” in the NFL and touted the team’s diverse senior leadership.

Among the new recruits Tepper mentioned was a “new GC we hired, who happens to be an African American woman,” according to a clip of his comments posted to Twitter.

The Charlotte Observer reported that Taylor was among several minority executives cited by the Panthers as evidence of the franchise’s commitment to building a diverse workplace.

The NFL scored a partial victory in the bias dispute this month by forcing some claims by the plaintiffs into arbitration. A redacted copy of Wilks’ employment agreement with the Panthers is an exhibit in the case.

Tepper-owned GT Real Estate filed for bankruptcy last year after it sought to wind down its unfinished work and address creditor claims to the 234-acre site proposed for the Panthers headquarters site in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

White & Case, K&L Gates, and Delaware’s Farnan advised GT Real Estate in its insolvency proceedings.

Court filings show that White & Case incurred at least $16 million in legal fees and expenses through mid-December as lead bankruptcy counsel to GT Real Estate, while K&L Gates billed for about $353,300 during that same time in its role as special counsel to the debtor.

A Delaware bankruptcy judge approved a $100 million deal resolving GT Real Estate’s Chapter 11 case in mid-December.

Legal Teams

The Panthers are currently looking to hire an associate counsel who will report to Taylor, according to a new position posted on the team’s website.

The listing describes the job’s duties to include drafting, negotiating, and reviewing contracts with vendors, sponsors, and other counterparties, as well as to manage pending and open litigation matters with the help of outside counsel.

Tepper’s holding company, Tepper Sports & Entertainment, already employs an associate counsel in David Vaught, who has worked for the Panthers since 2020.

Charles “Chuck” Baker and Irwin Raij, the new co-chairs of the entertainment, sports, and media practice at Sidley Austin, counseled Tepper on his acquisition of the Panthers. The duo also advised Tepper on his $325 million purchase of an expansion team in Major League Soccer, Charlotte FC, which debuted last year.

Tepper lost his status as the NFL’s wealthiest owner last year after the Denver Broncos were sold for $5 billion to billionaire S. Robson Walton, an attorney and son of Walmart Inc. founder Sam Walton.