Charlotte still buzzing regarding league announcement

USAFL announces Panthers moving to Cincinnati after 2159 season
By "Ricky 'Radar' OReilly"

Off-Season 2159 (Charlotte) - The city of Charlotte is still buzzing about the league realignment announcement from USAFL league commissioner Andrew Lewis, specifically the fact that their hometown team, the Carolina Panthers, are moving to Cincinnati after the 2159 season, leaving them without a team for the first time in seventy years.

'This is a disappointing day for the city of Charlotte,' Mayor E.F. 'Bubba' Crankston said in a hastily called press conference this morning. 'The fact that the Panthers organization chose to turn their backs on their home for the last seventy years in unconscionable.'

Crankston said that Charlotte will try to lure another team.

'We have another year before the team leaves,' Crankston pointed out. 'We can use that time to encourage another USAFL team to move to our fine city.'

When asked how they intended to do that with a seventy year old stadium they do not intend to replace, Crankston moved on to the next question.

At the Panthers offices, GM 'Trader' Lee Remley wasn't exactly celebrating.

'This is a sad situation for this city and their fans, to be sure,' Remley said in an exclusive interview with SI. 'I wish it wouldn't have come to this, but this is a business and we have to be able to compete. Quite frankly, the city of Charlotte had their chance to keep us here and wouldn't step up to the plate.'

Cincinnati's current version of the Bengals are moving to Washington after the 2159 season, so the Panthers took advantage of the opening to move their franchise back to Remley's home state.

The key to the deal with Cincinnati was what Charlotte would not provide. A brand new 60,000 seat stadium on the Ohio River with all the latest bells and whistles.

The Panthers franchise will adopt the Bengals nickname after the move and switch conferences, to be located in the AFC East division with perennial powerhouses such as Buffalo and Baltimore.

'The Bengals have a long, proud history in that town, all the way back to when Paul Brown founded them in 1968,' Remley observed. 'I couldn't imagine calling our new franchise there anything else. A new name for a new beginning for us.'

Meanwhile, Charlotte residents descended with torches throughout the night to the city offices, where they await the city officials arrival this morning.

'We intend to say our piece to the mayor and the city council,' one of the assembled residents, wearing a Courtney McLemore jersey, told SI.

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