Carolina Panthers co-owner Mark Richardson, a Clemson University trustee who served as the guest speaker at Friday's meeting of the Anderson Area Touchdown Club, said a plan is in place to sell the NFL franchise founded by his father, Jerry.

"A decision has been made that when he passes away the team will be sold," Mark Richardson said in an exclusive interview with the USA Today Network. "A plan is already in place; a timeline is in place."

While he declined to describe the plan or discuss the likelihood that the team would remain in Charlotte, he said the sale is contingent on the death of his father.

"Hopefully that won't be for a long while," Mark Richardson said.

The Panthers played their inaugural season at Clemson's Memorial Stadium in 1995 while their stadium in uptown Charlotte, more than a two hour's drive away, was being completed.

Those roots in Upstate South Carolina and the team's annual training camp held in Spartanburg at Wofford College, Jerry Richardson's alma mater, played key roles in establishing the Panthers as a regional Carolinas franchise rather than a Charlotte, North Carolina, franchise, Mark Richardson has said.

The Panthers (4-3) visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-4) Sunday with linebacker Luke Kuechly, one of the stars on the team, expected to play after suffering a concussion Oct. 12 and missing last week's loss to the Chicago Bears.

Kuechly has missed 10 games the last three seasons due to concussions.

"A lot has been done already with the rule changes with protecting players in defenseless positions," Richardson said. "The rules have to continue being enforced and fining players.

"If you break a bone you can X-ray it. You tear a ligament, you can sew it up. The brain is not that way. (The league) is diligent about doing the right things. They just have to continue to address it, pay attention to it and put emphasis on it."

As for kneeling during the national anthem – a move by a few players to draw attention to discrimination and what they've seen as unfair treatment of minorities by authorities, controversy that's been stoked by and drawn the ire of President Trump while sparking debate nationwide – Richardson said he'd prefer players find a different time to express themselves.

"When there is a protest when the flag is out, or the anthem is being played, it can be interpreted a lot of different ways. And many of those ways don't make people feel good," he said, characterizing his thoughts as his own and not those of the Panthers organization. "Personally I wish they could find a time and opportunity that is not when the flag is unfurled and the anthem is playing."