The sale of the Carolina Panthers appears to be near.
David Tepper, the hedge-fund billionaire whom many N.F.L. owners pointed to as the preferred choice to buy the team, has backed out of the auction for the club, according to two people with knowledge of his interest in the team.
Tepper’s departure comes a few weeks after Michael Rubin, the owner of the online retailing giant Fanatics, also bowed out. Both men balked at the asking price of at least $2.5 billion.
Their departures narrow the field to two for membership in the most exclusive and expensive owners club in North American sports: Ben Navarro, who owns Sherman Financial Group, an investment firm; and Alan Kestenbaum, the chief executive of Bedrock Industries, which owns and operates metal and mining companies.