The Carolina Panthers’ plan to relocate their headquarters and training facility to Rock Hill, S.C., became a reality Monday night after the York County (S.C.) Council voted in favor of the move, 4-3.
The Panthers intend to open the complex — which will include hotels, restaurants and a medical facility — in 2022.
Rock Hill is about 25 miles south of Charlotte.
“We’re not just building a practice facility,” Panthers chief operating officer Mark Hart told the council during the three-hour debate, according to the Rock Hill Herald.
Under the arrangement, dubbed Project Avalanche by the county, Rock Hill will forego all of its property tax revenue for up to 30 years to put against a $225 million infrastructure project, the Herald reported.
According to Herald, of the tax revenue the Panthers’ arrival would have generated, the county will put up 65 percent while the Rock Hill School District will give up 75 percent toward the project.
Councilwoman Christi Cox said, according to the Herald, “This is the biggest property tax giveaway in the history of York County, maybe in South Carolina. And we did it during a pandemic.”