The Carolina Panthers and Bank of America have extended their naming rights agreement for Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, with fresh renderings revealing an ambitious US$1.3 billion renovation of the venue.

Architecture firm HOK, which is designing the project in collaboration with Tepper Sports & Entertainment (TSE) — the organisation that owns the Panthers — published new visualisations on 23 July 2026 HOK. The Panthers confirmed the renovation budget in a social media post on 28 July Panthers Instagram.

The renderings show expanded indoor-outdoor gathering spaces across every level of the stadium, designed to blur the line between concourse and field. A 500-level social patio with sweeping views of the Charlotte skyline is among the standout features HOK.

The renovation's primary objective, according to the Panthers' official stadium renovation page, is a phased construction plan spread over several years that keeps the stadium operational throughout — meaning fans will see the venue evolve around them, season by season, rather than shutting down for a single overhaul Panthers.com.

HOK's involvement brings significant stadium-design experience to the project. Nate Appleman, a director of HOK's global Sports + Recreation + Entertainment practice, specialises in stadium and arena design HOK. The design renderings are credited jointly to HOK and TSE, confirming the two organisations are working hand in glove on the rebuild WCNC.

TSE released updated renderings the same week as the HOK publication, giving fans the clearest look yet at what the 74,000-seat venue could become WCNC.

For fans, the phased approach means the game-day experience keeps running while the building transforms. The new gathering spaces signal a shift toward the social, open-concourse model that newer NFL venues have prioritised — more places to linger, eat and watch the action from different vantage points, rather than the traditional seat-and-squint setup.

Bank of America Stadium opened in 1996 and has served as the Panthers' home since the franchise's second season. The naming rights deal with Bank of America, the Charlotte-based financial giant, has been in place since 2004. The extension keeps the corporate name on the building even as nearly every brick and beam inside it is slated for change.

Neither the Panthers nor Bank of America has disclosed the financial terms of the naming rights extension or its duration. The $1.3 billion renovation figure, by contrast, is confirmed — a number that places the project among the most expensive stadium overhauls in NFL history.

The full timeline for construction phases has not yet been published. What fans have now is a set of pictures, a price tag and a promise: the stadium stays open, and it gets a lot more social.