A scattering of Carolina Panthers fans Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Embarrassingly small crowd watches Panthers upset Falcons

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 12/18/23

The Carolina Panthers won their second game of the season on Sunday by sneaking by the Atlanta Falcons, 9-7, thanks to a last second field goal from Eddy Pineiro. The only downside for the Panthers is that there was hardly anybody in the stands to actually see it happen.

Tickets for Sunday's game were going for shockingly low prices on the second-hand market (depending on the re-seller some seats were being offered for under $5) and not even that was enough to bring in a crowd.

The Panthers announced the attendance as over 70,000, but as pictures throughout the game showed the actual crowd was significantly smaller than that.

Just announced, tickets distributed for today’s game between the #Panthers & #Falcons: 70,301.

This is your crowd shot as of right now. pic.twitter.com/YcnLCmTcqh
— Gabe McDonald (@GabeMcDonald_) December 17, 2023

2 minutes left. Panthers down 7-6 but already in FG range. Maybe about to win their 2nd game of the season before this crowd, which Panthers announced at 70K (tickets distributed). pic.twitter.com/yYComSw61V
— Scott Fowler (@scott_fowler) December 17, 2023

There are two big factors at play here that lead to a crowd like this. The most obvious is that the Panthers entered the day with a 1-12 record – worst in the NFL – and were playing a 6-7 team. It is not really a matchup that is going to get people to want to sit for three hours on a rainy day.

The other is that Panthers fans seem to be at their breaking point with owner David Tepper. Tepper has owned the team for six years and it has been an embarrassing run that has seen constant coaching turnover, quarterback turnover, poor decision-making and all of those things coming together to produce terrible football.

Even worse, the Panthers do not even have the potential of a top draft pick to hope for because their 2024 first-round pick belongs to the Chicago Bears. That pick, which is almost certainly going to be the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, was sent to Chicago a year ago so the Panthers could move up to the No. 1 pick in 2023 to select quarterback Bryce Young. Given Young's lack of development and progress as a rookie, the early returns are not looking great.

That is how you end up with a crowd like the one you see in the above pictures.

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