Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper has unveiled plans for a multi-purpose stadium with a retractable roof that could house both his National Football League (NFL) franchise and a potential Major League Soccer (MLS) expansion franchise, reports, www.sportspromedia.com/.

The Panthers currently play at Bank of America Stadium, which was built in 1996 and has room for just north of 75,000 fans.

Speaking to reporters, Tepper revealed that a new dome stadium for the Panthers would ideally be based in uptown Charlotte and be ready within the next decade.

"I've been talking about some sort of a new stadium. It's really a whole, big statewide sort of deal," Tepper added. "With stadiums, if you do a retractable roof, you have to do a real big open thing for this part of the country... I'd really like to see basketball be played there, too.

"If we do football, and if we do end up with a soccer franchise, and then have all the other events there — have a Final Four there — that would be the cherry on top. It's not like idle chatter; it's something I'd really like to see done.

"To say that I'm going to do it in the next year, that's not true. But to put something out in the future — say hey to the governor of North Carolina, to the mayor [of Charlotte], we need to be aspirational because this is a great area. We need to realise how great it can be."

Tepper has signalled that he is intent on landing an MLS expansion franchise and representatives from Charlotte's bid visited league offices in July to deliver a presentation.

"I think they (MLS) came out with a statement after [the presentation] and it was a very simple statement," he said. "You saw they mentioned St Louis first and they mentioned Charlotte second and they mentioned Sacramento third. I think that put us in the conversation. So I didn't say it, they said it."