49ERS AT PANTHERS | 1 P.M. TV: FOX, WCCB (CH. 18)

Hapless play keeps Panthers fans away

Games are sold out, but empty seats point to growing frustration

JEFFERSON GEORGE

jgeorge@charlotteobserver.com

Staff Photographer

Carolina Panthers fans stay late in the game against the Indianapolis Colts at Bank of America Stadium. The Colts won, 31-7. (DAVID T. FOSTER III-dtfoster@charlotteobserver.com)

Raking leaves. Christmas shopping. Woodworking. Watching other games on TV.

Despite already paying for seats and season tickets, some Carolina Panthers fans would rather do anything but go to Bank of America Stadium today.

The weather for the 1 p.m. kickoff against the San Francisco 49ers should be better than last Sunday, when about 19,000 people didn't show up.

The Panthers' woeful play this season, however, has people who paid thousands of dollars for permanent seat licenses and season tickets saying they won't spend any more time watching the team in person.

Some may watch the game at home, but not for long if they don't like what they see. Others say they'll ignore the Panthers altogether, with alternative pursuits bordering on the absurd.

"I'm going to get in my car, put it in reverse and drive in circles around my cul-de-sac," joked Larry Ridge, 50, of Weddington, "doing my best imitation of the Panthers' offense."

Many PSL owners have sold or given away tickets, but one said he wants his seats to stay empty to show his dissatisfaction with the team's performance and owner Jerry Richardson.

"I will lose $150 each game," said Dave Knorr, a mortgage broker who lives in Harrisburg and has lower-level seats. "But if that's what I have to do to get my message to Mr. Richardson, that's what I will do."

The Panthers haven't won a home game in more than a year, losing seven straight in Charlotte. They're 4-7 this season -- a record that reminds original PSL owners of the team's horrible 1-15 mark in 2001.

Knorr, 47, said it may have to get worse -- so executives and coaches get fired -- before it gets better.

"I'm pulling for them to lose," he said.

While Knorr stays home, Sean Pfannkuch of Fort Mill, S.C., will head uptown. But Pfannkuch, 38, said he'll stop short of the front door, instead planning to tailgate with friends outside the stadium.

"At least we can guarantee that will be good," he said.

Pfannkuch, a mortgage consultant and original PSL owner, said he sold his four lower-level tickets for last Sunday's game for less than $170 -- about half the face value -- and got a similar price for today's game tickets. In previous seasons, he said, he almost never sold tickets, especially since he used to plan trips around Panthers games.

"I booked a flight earlier to come back specifically to go to (today's) game," Pfannkuch said, "and now I don't have the interest to go.

"At some point, you have to look at where you want to spend your entertainment dollars."

Sold out, but few going

For last Sunday's thrashing by the New Orleans Saints, the Panthers had about 19,000 unused tickets, said Phil Youtsey, the team's director of ticket sales and operations. That's about 25 percent of the stadium's capacity.The weather was cold and wet, but Youtsey also acknowledged that "attendance is tied to team performance in every city in every sport." Still, he said, all home games are sold out for the rest of season, and the Panthers-Saints game was the top-rated TV program in the region that day.

"Folks were still connected," Youtsey said, "just not here."

It's unclear how Panthers no-shows compare with other struggling teams. Officials with the 49ers, who are 3-8, and the winless Miami Dolphins declined to share figures, disclosing only paid attendance, which reflects ticket sales, not people in seats.

The NFL gets no-show data from teams, league spokesman Greg Aiello said Friday, but it doesn't share those figures publicly.

What is certain is that the Panthers, an expansion team that began play in 1995, don't have a long history or fan base that spans several generations -- two things that can help keep attendance high in tough times.

Jason Beasley, a video editor in Raleigh, said he missed last Sunday's game because he was in Chicago for Thanksgiving.

"I couldn't give the ticket away," he said. "Nobody wanted to see the Panthers play. Nobody. Nobody in my family. None of my friends. I sent a companywide e-mail to my co-workers, and still nothing."

The Chicago Bears, however, were a big draw last weekend despite also having a losing record, Beasley said. "They were in the same situation the Panthers were in last Sunday," he said. "Soldier Field was packed."

Some willing to endure agony

While not as storied a franchise, the Panthers still claim plenty of loyal fans.

Dave Brown, a 37-year-old salesman from Charlotte, said he "will stay to the end and go to every game even if the season is 0-16."

More than 150 miles east of Charlotte, Lenne Green was debating last week whether she would make the 2 1/2-hour drive from Raleigh to the stadium today. Green, 47, usually takes her 10-year-old son, Jake.

Green ultimately decided to take her son to today's game, although she's not optimistic about the Panthers breaking their home losing streak. "I think they'll blow it," she said.

Chuck James, a retiree from Cary, said the prospect of widespread no-shows reveals the lack of a diehard fan base. He'll be at the stadium today, he said.

"All year I look forward to the football season," James, 54, said, "so good year or bad, I will be there.

"But," he added, "I don't expect a lot of traffic."

Preseason predictions

Indeed, some PSL owners saw the writing on the wall before today. Phil Brown of Matthews said he sold his season tickets for upper-level seats for face value after the last preseason game.

"I was tired of commercials instead of replays on the scoreboard, expensive beer and a lousy show on the field," Brown, 51, said, adding that some of his friends chided him for selling. "They have not said anything else since that first week."

Now Brown, who hasn't decided whether he'll keep his PSLs next season, watches the Panthers on TV. "For the cost of one beer at the stadium, I can have a whole six-pack," he said. "And as bad as they play, it's needed."

Bob Popoff of Lincoln County also sold some of his lower-level tickets before the season, putting the money toward a Christmas gift for his daughters: a used Yamaha dirt bike. "I can be just as frustrated at home watching them on television," he said.

Popoff, a 46 year-old software writer, said he'll watch part of today's game but then may do some woodworking in his home shop. Other PSL owners say they also plan to putter around the house or spend time with family.

William Merritt, 30, of Charlotte said he has two young children and normally would "put in significant work to get a pass for an afternoon with the guys."

"I'm not about to waste my passes on these jokers anymore," Merritt said. "I'll take my kids to see Santa, and when we get back, we'll all have nap time while we wait for the 4 o'clock games."

While their activities vary, one thing unites most disenchanted PSL owners: plans to keep their seats beyond this season, with hopes that next year will give more reasons to head back to Bank of America Stadium.

"I know there are ups and downs in the NFL," Pfannkuch said. "Someday we'll be up again, and that'll be fun."

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Jefferson George: 704-358-5071