The Carolina Panthers are prepping for the Super Bowl and the excitement is building, but a lot of the public discussion has focused on an off-the-field issue: namely, how the public and the media treat the Panthers’ flashy star quarterback Cam Newton.
Newton is unafraid to be expressive and many have criticized him for being too expressive. Is the criticism fair? (Stuart Scott got the same bad rap when he was starting out.) Is there a racial component? (Are there equally expressive white players who get a free pass?) And from an economic perspective, how do the Panthers and the NFL market a player like Newton, who may well be the league’s most dominant, most visible, and perhaps most polarizing figure for years to come?
Deborah Stroman is a sports analyst and a professor at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. She discussed those issues and others with Aaron Keck this week on WCHL.
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