Ties between Carolina Panthers, city of Pittsburgh grow

As the Carolina Panthers prepare for their Thursday night game at Heinz Field against the Steelers, the ties between the two franchises continue to grow.

This is the Panthers' first game in Pittsburgh since being bought by David Tepper, a billionaire investor who grew up in Stanton Heights and attended Peabody High School, the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.

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He also was a former minority owner of the Steelers.

On Thursday morning, Tepper visited CMU’s new $200 million building housing the school of business with his name on it. Tepper contributed $67 million to its construction and attended the grand opening in September.

The Panthers also tweeted a photo of flowers the team left at the memorial outside Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill, where 11 people were shot to death in a massacre that shocked the nation on Oct. 27.

“With these flowers we extend our deepest sympathies to the Tree of Life congregation in Pittsburgh,” the team tweeted, using the "#StrongerThanHate" hashtag.

While there’s no doubt both teams will go after each other full-speed on Thursday night, off the field the respect between them is strong.

Cox Media Group