Yes the TV contract covers all the players and usually team staff as well, making it basically impossible for an NFL owner to lose money.
As for the Panthers.... lol @ 2.5 billion. Steve Ballmer is really what screwed up the sports team market. He was a nerdy basketball superfan who wanted to be in the exclusive major sports team owners club (like his friend Paul Allen) so bad he paid 3x as much as he should have for the Clippers. That set the bar way to high, hence the Rockets selling for 2.2 billion & throwing franchise evaluations out the door. NFL teams are cash cows and when your NBA counterparts are buying teams for 2 billion+, the prices of your teams go tenfold.