SPARTANBURG — Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper has major Major League Soccer plans in Charlotte, and those were made clear earlier this month via a formal expansion bid to the MLS governing board, two sources told The Athletic.



MLS released a statement on July 15 that said representatives from Charlotte’s expansion bid team had met with officials in New York to “provide an update”, but no formal bid had publicly been announced.



That tidbit about an “update” was sandwiched between mentions of St. Louis’ existing bid (in 2016), and Sacramento’s (in 2014). Tepper told reporters during a Panthers training camp practice that he takes that positioning as a positive as the league works to expand to 30 teams through 2022.



“I think the ultimate feedback that came out, and it was a very simple statement — you saw that they mentioned St. Louis first, and they mentioned Charlotte second,” he said.