CHARLOTTE, N.C. (CHARLOTTE SPORTS LIVE) — You might be wondering how a football team from North Carolina ends up in Germany.
Well, ultimately the answer might be a quarterback from Louisiana.
“Jake Delhomme was obviously a star legend quarterback for the Carolina Panthers in the early 2000s and took us to the Super Bowl,” Tepper Sports and Entertainment VP Dan O’Neill explained.
But before all that happened, Delhomme played for the Frankfort Galaxy in the late 1990s. It was then and there, where arguably the love affair for the Panthers began in that part of the world.
But by 2021, there was no argument: Those same fans were now hungry to see Delhomme’s old team in person.
“We knew that was kind of the right market for us to attack,” O’Neill said.
Attack is what both the Panthers as well as Tepper Sports & Entertainment did the moment the NFL opened up international marketing rights to individual teams. After doing their research, they zeroed in on Munich and made it their new international home.
Within three years, it became official, Carolina is getting a game across the pond. The Panthers are taking on The Giants on Sunday.
But after the initial buzz wore off, reality set in. Taking an entire organization to Europe was much different than a typical road trip to Los Angeles.
“It’s everything from making sure your players have their passports to making sure they are not expired. All sorts of things,” explained Panthers Director of Marketing Kalen Karahalios.
Several scouting trips were taken to find hotels and practice facilities for the team. Once there, they’d need their equipment, which is why supplies actually began shipping out of Carolina in the summer.
As of last week, they were still on the way.
“My whole team has been really great about getting everything together and ready. If we get half the boxes, we’ll be disappointed but at least we’ll get some of the things and we’ll be happy,” Karahalios said only half-joking.
Basically, everything was thought of in advance in order to make the trip as easy as possible for the football team. It’s an effort that did not go unnoticed by head coach Dave Canales, who admits he has plenty of other problems to worry about.
“There is a lot that goes into it,” he said. “The cool part is, it’s a challenge for both teams.”
Winning is the goal for Canales. However, it’s not the only one for those in the Panthers organization who helped plan the trip.
“We want to create a great fan experience,” O’Neill said. “We want to showcase our brand. We want fans to leave Munich after that weekend with a memorable experience for the rest of their life.”
Jake Delhomme, look what you started.