The new stadium is expected to be ready for the 1996 season. In 1995, the team will play in Clemson (S.C.) Stadium, 130 miles from Charlotte.

Mike McCormack, a former offensive tackle and later general manager of the Seattle Seahawks, will be the Panthers' general manager. He will hire the coach, Richardson said. There seems to be a groundswell for Joe Gibbs, who quit this year as coach of the Washington Redskins because of burnout. However, Gibbs has said he does not want to coach again. Pay and Give

This will be the N.F.L.'s first expansion since the Seattle Seahawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers started playing in 1976. They paid $16 million each for the right to join. Not only must the new teams pay $140 million, but they must also settle for a half-share of network television income for their first three seasons, which amounts to $50 million each that the teams won't receive. And each team will need about $75 million in operating income.

Yet seven groups representing five cities have spent great amount of time and millions of dollars. And those who succeeded knew they might not make a profit for years -- 10 years, said J. Wayne Weaver, the general partner of the Jacksonville group.

"You have to take a long-term view," Weaver said.

The prospective club owners said they were involved for civic pride and prestige and income for their cities as well as themselves. For example, Gov. Jim Hunt of North Carolina said that a team in Charlotte would generate $400 million in annual income for the state. Dick Thigpen, Richardson's attorney, said the figure might be closer to $200 million.

"Whatever it is," Thigpen said, "there are many benefits. It spreads the city's name. Cities spend money to advertise, and teams give it free advertising." Shifts in St. Louis

For months, the owners were believed to have been leaning strongly toward putting a team back in St. Louis, where the Cardinals left for Phoenix in 1988. St. Louis is the largest city not in the N.F.L. and the largest market of the bidding cities.