DAN.

We will now turn to Dan before returning to you. Hello everyone, things are going well. I’d like to take a moment to discuss a topic we want to delve into more deeply. Let’s shift gears and talk about being a billionaire. Wouldn’t that be nice? It’s hard to comprehend just how much money that truly is. Here’s a helpful way to put it into perspective: If you were to count from one to one million without stopping, it would take about 11 days. But if you continued counting all the way up to one billion, it would take you 31 years. Quite a difference there. Now, if you kept counting to 20 billion, you would reach the net worth of David Tepper, the owner of the Carolina Panthers. So when he was fined $300,000 by the NFL for throwing a drink at fans from his luxury box in Jacksonville, that would be equivalent to fining an average person about a dollar. Some people are using the power of the internet to try and remove Tepper from the team. A petition on Change.org has 3,000 signatures from fans calling for his firing, citing the team’s poor record, bad decisions, and the drink-throwing incident. However, this petition has no real impact because, according to NFL rules, only other team owners can vote someone out, and that is highly unlikely. We have seen this almost happen before with another owner who was charged with misconduct but ended up selling the team instead. It’s clear that team owners are more concerned with making money than enforcing moral standards, as evidenced by past incidents involving other owners. The only exception is the Green Bay Packers, which is owned by over 500,000 individual fans and is a non-profit organization. This unique ownership structure has allowed the team to stay in a small city for over 60 years. However, this model is no longer possible as the NFL passed a rule in 1960 requiring teams to be organized as for-profit entities, making it difficult for cities to retain their teams. While some may not agree with Tepper’s actions, it’s undeniable that he is a successful businessman. He bought the Panthers for 2.275 billion in 2018, and today it is worth 4.1 billion. And despite being at the bottom of the barrel, that barrel is on a rocket ship thanks to the NFL’s immense popularity. As a lifelong Steelers fan, I understand the deep connection and identity tied to being a fan. We may get passionate and frustrated, but throwing objects is never acceptable. Let me know your thoughts on this or any other topic by emailing me at dan@dan.