Minority owner of the 76ers and the Devils reportedly wants to buy Carolina Panthers

It looks like the sale of the Carolina Panthers officially has a new bidder. 

According to ESPN.com, billionaire Michael Rubin is interested in buying the team. Rubin is a familiar name to NFL owners because he's the founder and executive chairman of Fanatics, the company that basically runs the league's online store at NFLShop.com. According to ESPN, Fanatics "sells more NFL licensed gear than any other business in the world."

Another thing working in Rubin's favor is that he already has some ownership experience. The 45-year-old is a minority owner of both the Philadelphia 76ers and the New Jersey Devils. Rubin also owns a stake in Crystal Palace FC, a Premiere League team located just outside of London. 

Rubin joins billionaire hedge-fund manager David Tepper and South Carolina businessman Ben Navarro as the main bidders for the Panthers right now. According to NFL.com, the list of bidders is expected to reach somewhere between six and eight by the time the bidding process begins. 

According to the Charlotte Observer, a winning bid could be selected as the early as the end of March, but it also could be well into April before owners make a decision. Before the Panthers can be sold, 24 of the NFL's 32 owners would have to approve it. The league is apparently hoping the sale vote can go down at the Spring League Meeting, which is scheduled for May 21-23 in Atlanta. 

Although Tepper, who owns a minority stake in the Steelers, was named an early favorite in the bidding process, Rubin could make some noise, and that's because other NFL owners seem to like him. Back in May, the league's owners made a $95 million investment in Fanatics that quickly turned into a $40 million profit after just four months, according to ESPN. NFL owners love money and they really love it when you can make them $40 million in four months. 

Of course, the one thing holding Rubin back could be funds. He's "only" worth roughly $3 billion, which could be an issue because NFL rules stipulate that the controlling owner has to put up 30 percent of the purchase price. With the Panthers expected to fetch anywhere between $2 billion and $3 billion, that could mean writing a check for $600 million to $900 million, which is a lot of money, even for a billionaire. 

Those numbers would be easier to digest for someone like Tepper, who is reportedly worth more than $11 billion. After a controlling owner puts up his stake, he can bring up to 24 more people into his bidding group as the allows up to 25 total partners in an ownership group. 

The Panthers have been up for sale since the end of the 2017 season. Owner Jerry Richardson announced in December that he would be selling the team following allegations of workplace misconduct. Richardson is currently being investigated by the NFL and has pretty much stayed out of the spotlight since the allegations became public following the publication of a Sports Illustrated story on Dec. 17. 

In the story from SI, the magazine reported that several Panthers employees had complained about Richardson over a variety of things. Among them, Richardson allegedly inappropriately touched female employees and asked women whether or not he could shave their legs. He would also allegedly offer to give them foot rubs. Richardson also allegedly used a racial slur against at least a former team scout who's no longer with the Panthers.

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