Bank of America Stadium Bank of America Stadium ( formerly known as Carolinas Stadium and Ericsson Stadium ) is a 73 , 778 - seat football stadium located on of land in uptown Charlotte , North Carolina , USA . It is the home facility of the Carolina Panthers NFL franchise . It also hosts the annual Meineke Car Care Bowl which features teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big East . It will host the 2010 and 2011 ACC Championship Game s . The stadium has also been the site for several games featuring the East Carolina University Pirates . Other sites considered for selection . The organization had considered several possible sites for the stadium ' s location before choosing the Charlotte center city site . Part of the site was occupied by the historic Good Samaritan Hospital . One alternative was near NASCAR ' s Charlotte Motor Speedway and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in northeast Mecklenburg County . Another was at the intersection of I - 85 and US - 74 in western Gaston County . A popular option was to locate the facility near Carowinds amusement park , with the 50 yard line being on the state border of North Carolina and South Carolina . Naming . The stadium , originally known as Carolinas Stadium ( this name is used when the stadium hosts FIFA events ) , opened in 1996 , as Ericsson Stadium after the Swedish telecom company LM Ericsson purchased the naming rights to the stadium in a 10 ten year , $ 25 million agreement . In 2004 , the stadium received its current name after Bank of America purchased the naming rights for 20 years . Since Bank of America has acquired naming rights , many fans now refer to the stadium as , " The Bank " , " The BOA " , or " BOFA " . Carolina Panthers . Inaugural season . The Panthers played their Inaugural Season at Clemson University ' s Memorial Stadium while the stadium was being completed . The Carolina Panthers played their first game at the stadium on September 14 , 1996 . Playoff games . In 1996 , on their way to their first NFC Championship Game , they defeated the defending Super Bowl Champion Dallas Cowboys . Again they defeated the Cowboys on their way to Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston in 2004 . They were handed their first ever home playoff loss to the Arizona Cardinals by a score of 33 - 13 on January 10 , 2009 . College football . Bank of America stadium does not serve as the primary home stadium for any college football team . However , it has hosted several college football games . The late - December Meineke Car Care Bowl has been held in the stadium annually since 2002 . The ACC Championship Game was held in the stadium for the 2010 season and is scheduled to be held there again in 2011 . The stadium has also hosted four East Carolina Pirates football games , two versus the NC State Wolfpack ( in 1996 and 2004 ) , a 1999 game versus the West Virginia Mountaineers and a 2008 game against the Virginia Tech Hokies . The stadium will also host two games between East Carolina and the South Carolina Gamecocks , in 2011 and 2014 . Impact on NFL venues . At the time of its construction in the early 1990s , the stadium was a pioneering project for the use of Personal Seat License s . It was the first large - scale project funded in the United States chiefly through securing PSLs . The strength of PSL pledges impressed NFL owners and resulted in the Carolinas receiving the first new expansion team in nearly two decades . The stadium is also credited with being a major cause for the recent round of new stadium construction in the NFL . Only a decade after its construction , it is now the eleventh oldest among current NFL stadiums . However , the stadium was considered so far ahead of its time that no significant renovations have been made since it opened . There are only four older NFL stadiums which have not received major renovations ( the Edward Jones Dome , Louisiana Superdome , and Arrowhead Stadium are now undergoing renovations , and Giants Stadium and Texas Stadium are now demolished . ) . The last four to open before the stadium broke ground were Candlestick Park in 1972 , Ralph Wilson Stadium in 1973 , Sun Life Stadium in 1987 , and the Georgia Dome in 1992 . Since Bank of America Stadium opened in 1996 , twenty - one other teams have moved into new facilities , an average of 1 . 9 new facilities opening each year . The most recent addition came in 2007 , when the original scoreboards and replay screens were replaced with high - definition monitors and ribbon boards . Non - football uses . Though Bank of America Stadium is mostly used as a football facility , it has hosted events of all kinds throughout its history . Other Sports Concerts Other Events