Cam Newton giving out tickets for return to Bank of America Stadium

In case you haven’t heard, Cam Newton is back. The Carolina Panthers star made his return to the team last week in a win against Arizona after a brief stint with the New England Patriots.

Newton scored a pair of touchdowns in that one despite coming off the bench, and is preparing to resume a starting role at Bank of America Stadium on Sunday against Washington. The quarterback is already building anticipation, announcing that he is giving away 50 tickets to Sunday’s game. The tickets from Cam Newton will go to fans who otherwise would not be able to attend.

Newton has been making the most of his return to Charlotte, showing up to a press conference this week in style. Playing into his “Superman” nickname, he wore a faux press pass that read “Clark Kent.” He also wore a t-shirt with a photo of him from last week with the caption “I’m back” but the “I’m” was crossed out and replaced with “We.”

The 11-year pro has spent most of this season as a free agent after the New England Patriots released him before it even began. Newton started 15 games for New England in 2020, but the team finished just 7-9 and missed the playoffs for the first time in 11 years. Carolina, the team that drafted him in 2011, signed the quarterback last week after Sam Darnold suffered a shoulder injury.

Newton has a fantastic history with the Panthers that includes an MVP campaign in 2015. They advanced all the way to the Super Bowl that season, falling to the Peyton Manning-led Denver Broncos. Newton is the franchise’s all-time passing leader, with a chance to add even more to that now.

The hope is his return will revitalize a team that seemed full of potential to begin the year. The Panthers started off 3-1 before going on a four-game losing streak. An injury to star running back Christian McCaffrey and poor play at quarterback were the major reason for the dip in play.

Both of those issues have now been addressed, as McCaffrey made his return from the hamstring injury in Week 9 against the Patriots. The Panthers shocked the NFL world by taking out Arizona this past week behind 34 points from the offense, its highest score of the season.

Now the attention turns to reclaiming homefield, where Carolina is just 2-3. Cam Newton is hopeful his gesture of giving away tickets will bring back the glory days of Bank of America Stadium starting Sunday. He has big dreams of what it should look like.

“Simple and plain, I only know one Bank of America Stadium,” he said. “So with that being said, this is a challenge for people to make my kind of prophecy correct. I said there’s no other place in football that I would rather be on Sunday than Bank of America Stadium because it will be a playoff atmosphere for more ways than one. Discredit who I am and what this game means to me, discredit who we’re playing and what that game means to them. Let’s get back to getting that edge and bringing the pride back to Carolina, how I once knew it to be.”

Kickoff between the Panthers and Washington is set for 1 p.m. ET.