Bank of America Stadium has been home to concerts and Charlotte sports history

October 1993: Charlotte receives an NFL expansion team, paving the way for the construction of a professional-level football stadium. It will initially be named for the Swedish telecommunications firm LM Ericsson Inc., which purchased naming rights to the facility for about $20 million over a 10-year period, The stadium is built on the site of Good Samaritan Hospital, the first privately funded Black hospital in North Carolina, in uptown Charlotte.

August 3, 1996: The Carolina Panthers play their first home game at the then-Ericsson Stadium, a win over the Chicago Bears. Before the stadium opened, the Panthers played their home games in Clemson, South Carolina.

September 1996: A 77-year-old Billy Graham brings his Carolinas Billy Graham Crusade to the then-Ericsson Stadium. “More than 25,000 volunteers from 900 churches representing 54 denominations across both North and South Carolina helped to stage the event,” per the Billy Graham Library.

January 5, 1997: In the team’s first-ever home playoff game, the Panthers beat the Dallas Cowboys 26-17 in the NFC Divisional.

October 10, 1997: The Rolling Stones play the first concert at the then-Ericsson Stadium, a sell-out.

2002: Then-Ericsson Stadium becomes the home of a new college football bowl. The bowl has since gone through multiple names: the Queen City Bowl, the Continental Tire Bowl (2002–2004), the Meineke Car Care Bowl (2005–2010), the Belk Bowl (2011–2019) and the Duke’s Mayo Bowl (2020-present).

2004: Bank of America acquires the naming rights to Charlotte’s NFL stadium. It was a 20-25 year agreement worth at least $140 million, The Charlotte Observer reported previously.

December 4, 2010: Bank of America Stadium hosts the ACC Championship football game between Florida State and Virginia Tech. Charlotte’s largest football stadium has hosted the conference title game 11 times in its history.

Sept. 25, 2011: Toward the end of the second quarter, more than four inches of rain fell in under an hour during a matchup between the Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars, causing the field to flood. The game, where the Panthers hung on to win 16-10, was later dubbed the “Monsoon Bowl.”

June 24, 2012: Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw play just the second concert ever at Bank of America Stadium as part of their joint “Brothers of the Sun” Tour.

Jan. 24, 2016: The Panthers host the NFC Championship Game, a 49-14 win over the Arizona Cardinals, to clinch a berth in Super Bowl 50.

May 4, 2019: Severe weather and limited inventory angers thousands of attendees at Untappd’s inaugural beer festival.

June 2020: The statue of Panthers founder and former president Jerry Richardson outside Bank of America Stadium is removed by the team, citing “public safety.” The statue had been unveiled in 2016, two years before Richardson sold the team in the wake of an NFL investigation into allegations of workplace misconduct.

November 2020: More than 13,000 Charlotte residents cast their ballot at Bank of America Stadium, serving as a polling site during the COVID-19 pandemic.

January 2021: Bank of America Stadium hosts a “mass vaccination event,” where more than 20,000 are inoculated against the COVID-19 virus.

May 2021: Soil from the grass at the field since the stadium broke ground in 1994 was removed, leading the Panthers to play on artificial turf for the first time in franchise history.

February 2022: $50 million in upgrades get approved at Bank of America Stadium for Panthers and Charlotte FC.

March 5, 2022: Charlotte FC’s first home match, against the LA Galaxy, draws an MLS record 74,000 fans.

May 2022: First-ever CMS Flag Football League championship held at Bank of America Stadium.

September 2022: MLS players — for the first time in team history — played across hash marks and end-zone lines because of bad weather.

March 2, 2023: The Panthers announce plans for the Keep Pounding High School Classic – the first-ever high school football game at the stadium – between Charlotte’s Providence Day School and Rock Hill’s Northwestern High School. The game is slated for Aug. 19.