{"id":3383,"date":"2026-07-17T19:35:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T19:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=3383"},"modified":"2026-07-17T19:35:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T19:35:11","slug":"tepper-sports-is-broken-and-favors-women-former-charlotte-fc-employee-alleges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=3383","title":{"rendered":"Tepper Sports is \u2018broken\u2019 and favors women, former Charlotte FC employee alleges"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first person hired by Charlotte FC<\/a> has filed a discrimination lawsuit against the soccer team and its parent company, Tepper Sports and Entertainment<\/a>, claiming he was wrongfully fired for an email that offered Bank of America Stadium suite seats to a family as a goodwill gesture.<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, Dustin Swinehart<\/a> alleges, women were not reprimanded for using racial slurs or being publicly intoxicated and \u201crude.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swinehart, a former professional soccer player and Charlotte FC\u2019s original director of community engagement, said in his lawsuit that the Tepper company set its sights on being a \u201ctrailblazer for women in sports\u201d<\/a> but violated N.C. and federal law by fostering \u201can uneven gender landscape\u201d with \u201cdisparate standards for women and men in hiring, promotions, and terminations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSadly, it\u2019s a broken place right now,\u201d Swinehart said in a Friday interview with The Charlotte Observer. \u201cBut I also believe that organizations don\u2019t get healthier and stronger unless people say honest things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tepper Sports and Entertainment<\/a> communications director Sarah Clark declined to comment Friday on pending litigation.<\/p>\n

Swinehart\u2019s claims center mostly around an Aug. 7, 2024, incident where a set of twin boys left a Charlotte FC youth soccer camp hours before they were supposed to and were found \u201cwalking down the street alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The boys were ultimately safe, and their father \u201cwas primarily apologetic for his sons walking off,\u201d according to the lawsuit. It was the twins\u2019 fourth day at the camp, and they had always stayed the whole day. Swinehart, in the lawsuit filed by attorney Joshua Van Kampen, says it is unclear what led them to leave the camp with the half-day crowd.<\/p>\n

A \u201chigh-level Zoom meeting\u201d came the next day.<\/p>\n

Charlotte FC leaders, including Swinehart, discussed new safety protocols. One employee took responsibility for not catching the boys\u2019 early and unapproved departure. Employees decided that the family would get a refund. Kisha Smith, Tepper Sports and Entertainment\u2019s chief human resource officer, said there should be no written communication with the family.<\/p>\n

During a later meeting with his direct boss, Swinehart \u2014 who said he was not present when the boys left the camp \u2014 shared the idea of offering the boys and their family seats in a luxury suite for a Charlotte FC match. His boss agreed, according to the lawsuit, so Swinehart asked an employee who worked under him to figure out if the family would be interested in that.<\/p>\n

That employee emailed the boys\u2019 father to confirm he had been refunded for the camp and ask if he would be interested in suite seats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is incredibly kind and totally unnecessary,\u201d the father responded on Aug. 13, 2024, \u201cbut I am not one to pass up an opportunity to be in the suite.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same day, Smith, who had said during the Zoom call that the family should not be contacted in writing, called Swinehart.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout so much as a hello [she] aggressively interrogated him about why an email had gone out to the family,\u201d the lawsuit states.<\/p>\n

On Aug. 14, 2024, one of Smith\u2019s direct reports fired Swinehart \u201cbecause of the email\u201d \u2014 an email he didn\u2019t send.<\/p>\n

Swinehart was \u201cblindsided,\u201d the lawsuit filed in Mecklenburg Superior Court says.<\/p>\n

Swinehart, 52, played for the United Soccer League\u2019s Charlotte Eagles for 12 years and is in the league\u2019s Hall of Fame as an all-time leading scorer. He has lived in Charlotte for 28 years.<\/p>\n

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He left his role as founder of Project 658, a nonprofit that provides sustainable, holistic care to refugees resettling in the Charlotte area, to join Charlotte FC. He was its \u201cfirst hire,\u201d he said, and he was the only employee for a month in 2020, two years before the club launched. As director of community engagement, he helped with \u201cbuilding a football club from the ground up,\u201d chose where its headquarters and training grounds would be and \u201cwas never disciplined or placed on a performance improvement plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview with The Charlotte Observer Friday afternoon, Swinehart said he is telling his story now \u201cso that other people don\u2019t have to go through what I\u2019ve gone through.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I really really do want Tepper Sports to be a better place,\u201d he said. \u201cI am a deep believer in the power and platform of sports \u2026 I think Charlotte\u2019s better if Tepper Sports is as strong and as healthy as it can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swinehart\u2019s lawsuit does not say he is seeking any money for the claims, and he told the Observer he primarily wants to see change.<\/p>\n

Van Kampen, his attorney, told the Observer \u201cthe organization had ample opportunity to make peace and did not.\u201d He also volunteered that he and Swinehart are \u201cnot of the ilk that attack companies that have DEI programs\u201d and that he \u201cdetests companies that drop their DEI programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the time, Van Kampen said, he\u2019s representing women in discrimination lawsuits.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some employers that can take it to the extreme, where there\u2019s just a glaring disparate and preferential treatment toward women, and that requires action in court,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Swinehart alleges that Smith, who fired him, was \u201ccondescending, derisive, and rude\u201d and that her behavior \u201cwould have been grounds for discipline, especially for a [chief human resource officer] \u2014 a position that is supposed to be the gold standard for promoting civility, culture, and professionalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her close relationship with Nicole Tepper, founder and owner of Tepper Sports and Entertainment, and CEO Kristi Coleman allowed her to \u201cact as an untouchable,\u201d and she acted more as the final decision maker than a counselor, the lawsuit alleges.<\/p>\n

Smith also \u201cengaged in gross misconduct by pressuring personnel to lie to the media\u201d in 2023 after CBS Sports reported that the Carolina Panthers violated NFL rules. Nicole Tepper had not completed mandatory inclusive hiring training before participating in interviews for potential head coaches for the Panthers, the CBS Sports article reported.<\/a><\/p>\n

That was correct, Swinehart said, but Smith told staff to release a statement<\/a> saying Smith herself had trained Nicole Tepper.<\/p>\n

Smith was not authorized to do such training, Swinehart alleges.<\/p>\n

Swinehart also said in his lawsuit that an unnamed woman on the community relations team had \u201cmultiple instances of rank public intoxication\u201d during a golf charity event and a Super Bowl, but was never disciplined.<\/p>\n

He also said another unnamed woman publicly used racial slurs, made a racist joke about an African American and used derogatory language toward Mexican food.<\/p>\n

The woman was given a warning but later promoted, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit also says Nicole Tepper had a plan to have the Carolina Panthers be the first to hire a female team president and that she also wanted to hire the NFL\u2019s first female play-by-play announcer.<\/p>\n

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The play-by-play job ultimately went to Anish Shroff<\/a>, a man, instead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dustin Swinehart sues Tepper Sports for wrongful termination and gender bias and alleges unfair treatment of men and women in Charlotte FC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nTepper Sports is \u2018broken\u2019 and favors women, former Charlotte FC employee alleges - \u0421harlotte Relocation Guide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=3383\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tepper Sports is \u2018broken\u2019 and favors women, former Charlotte FC employee alleges - 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