Carolina Panthers Owner David Tepper was caught on video throwing a drink at a Jaguars fan from his luxury suite during Sunday’s game in Jacksonville.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It’s the drink toss heard ’round Duval. After Sunday’s Jaguars game, a video surfaced of Carolina Panthers Owner David Tepper tossing a drink towards a fan sitting under his luxury box near the end of the game.
Since then, Tepper has been fined by the NFL, but no criminal charges have been filed. While his team lost on the field and he’s currently losing in the court of public opinion, those might be the only things that happen to him.
Drinks at stadiums are expensive, but this drink cost Tepper $300,000. That’s how much the league fined Tepper for violating the league’s conduct policy. But could he face criminal charges?
By law, what Tepper did was assault, but Jacksonville Lawyer Andrew Bonderud doubts a spilled drink is even worth the court costs to the person that it landed on.
“There might be some self-aggrandizing attorneys who try to make news by filing a lawsuit, but I haven’t seen any interviews of people who are terribly aggrieved by the drink that was thrown at them,” said Bonderud.
While Tepper’s behavior created national headlines, there are often far worse actions in and around the stadium.
According to crime mapping data, there were 21 reported incidents of assault or disturbing the peace near Everbank Stadium during football games in 2023, seven of which happened during the Florida-Georgia game.
Three fans who got into a fight in the stands during a preseason game last year had to take a conduct class before they were allowed back in any NFL stadium.
Even if charges are not filed against Tepper, he’s already received a fine and a black eye in the court of public opinion.
“He didn’t make his money in football, he made it in finance and to be successful in finance you need to be a good risk manager and you have to have good self-control,” said Bonderud, “and he exhibited none of that on Sunday and his team did terribly, so it’s an insult to injury for him that his team did so poorly and he acted so poorly.”
If the person who had the drink thrown on them doesn’t reach out to police then Bonderud believes the case will likely go away – possibly as quickly as a melting ice cube thrown out of a luxury suite.
