The 2015 Carolina Panthers won a franchise-high 17 games, showcased a bushel of charismatic stars and advanced all the way to Super Bowl 50 before losing to Denver.
If you’re even a casual Panthers fan, you probably know that. What you don’t know is the inside story of that 2015 team.
To commemorate the upcoming 10-year anniversary of that beloved team, The Charlotte Observer put together its own team — of journalists, who have spent six months conducting dozens of exclusive interviews and searching for previously unseen visuals.
The result: A full-length documentary called “SUPER MEN: The inside story of the 2015 Carolina Panthers,” as well as a four-part online series, both bulging with anecdotes and photos that Panthers fans will have never seen or heard before.
Here’s a breakdown of how “SUPER MEN” will roll out this month.
Online series debuts Monday
The four-part online series about the 2015 Panthers will run Monday through Thursday (July 14-17) on The Charlotte Observer’s website, with one part publishing per day. The series (as well as the documentary) will rely heavily on dozens of new interviews with players Luke Kuechly, Greg Olsen, Thomas Davis, Jonathan Stewart, Josh Norman, Kurt Coleman, Roman Harper, Ryan Kalil, Mike Tolbert and J.J. Jansen, as well as 2015 head coach Ron Rivera and many others.
Some players also furnished The Observer with previously unseen photos and videos from that remarkable season, and those will also be displayed.
The series also will be published in The Charlotte Observer’s print editions on consecutive Sundays — Parts 1 and 2 on July 20 and Parts 3 and 4 on July 27.
Documentary premieres July 24
The hour-long “SUPER MEN” documentary will premiere at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 24 at Independent Picture House in Charlotte.
Charlotte Observer subscribers have a chance to buy half-price tickets — at a cost of $10 each — if they purchase by Sunday.
Those special price tickets will include a meet-and-greet session before the documentary with Ron Rivera, the coach of the 2015 team and the winningest head coach in Carolina Panthers history. Subscriber tickets can be purchased here.
A question-and-answer session about the 2015 season with all attendees will follow the documentary, at 8:30 p.m., in the same theater. The panelists will include Rivera and former Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly, as well as other special guests.
On Monday, July 14, ticket prices for the July 24 documentary premiere will increase to $20 per ticket and become available to the general public. Note: the number of tickets remaining will be limited.
All proceeds from this Charlotte Observer event will be donated to Veterans Bridge Home, a charity chosen by and supported by Rivera.