12/03/24
June 30, 2006
The good, the bad, and the in between.: Michael Silver evaluates and ranks NFL owners from the best to the worst, from Robert Kraft and Jerry Jones at the top to Tom Benson at the bottom.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia to football at 04:42 PM - 13 comments
Nice to see Mr. Rooney II in the top 33.3%, even though the Steelers watch the bottom line very close. I kinda snickered when I saw where Randy Lerner (owner, Browns) ranked. But that is just my opinion.
posted by steelergirl at 06:20 PM on June 30, 2006
Dan Rooney behind Dan Snyder? I couldn't read the rest of this rubbish.
posted by scully at 06:20 PM on June 30, 2006
What's the criteria - long-ago success when the owner had a good coach (such as Jimmy Johnson) and great players (Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, etc., etc., etc.)? Certainly, must have nothing to do with any recent success (when was last time Cowboys won a playoff game). I put Jones up (down) there with Frontiere and Al Davis. Only difference is his team's success lasted a little longer. Actually Frontiere and Davis have put teams in Super bowl since Cowboys last heyday. Jones is posterboy for how to take a great thing, run it into the ground, and still make a lot of money.
posted by graymatters at 06:40 PM on June 30, 2006
As a Cowboy fan who started out hating Jerry Jones and slowly became a Jones believer I'm glad to see him on top. He's done a good job letting Parcells run the football side while he, and Stephen, run the buiness side. Both sides should do well this season. I'd expect Lamar Hunt and Dan Rooney to be higher while expecting Irsay to be lower. Everybody has their opinon.
posted by Termite at 06:44 PM on June 30, 2006
I have nothing but respect for Mike Brown (Bengals). He took a tough situatuion (an estatte tax dodge his father set up before his death) and rode it out in the 3rd smallest market. If it wasn't for this creative work around the Brown's would have had to sell the team and there is little chance that they would have remained in Cincinnati.
posted by mick at 07:46 PM on June 30, 2006
Huizenga is in the top? I always thought he was the sort to dismantal his teams the instant there was a dollar to be made at it. Hardly stellar ownership. NFL owners, not MLB owners.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 10:27 PM on June 30, 2006
Two glaring mistakes here. Bidwell belongs on the absolute bottom so far below everyone else he can't see the next worst owner when he looks up with a telescope. That next owner up is William Clay Ford. Neither should be legally allowed to own their own suit of clothes, let alone an NFL team.
posted by commander cody at 10:57 PM on June 30, 2006
Gotta agree, CC. Of course, I'm not sure Bidwell shouldn't be above the Ford boys. The only thing that should be below them is Millen kissing their feet.
posted by ctal1999 at 12:39 AM on July 01, 2006
I was born and raised in Battle Creek, Michigan.....................nuf said!
posted by bo_fan at 01:10 AM on July 01, 2006
I was born and raised in Battle Creek, Michigan.....................nuf said! ... I agree that Ford should be right at the bottom of the owner ladder. Millen was a horrible hiring, and he made it worse by giving him an extension.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 05:57 AM on July 01, 2006
If it were possible, I'd put the Irsay family at 33rd. Nobody who lived in Baltimore during the 80s can possibly forgive the kidnapping of the Colts. Other than my dragging my wife up to NH, this was the worst theft ever from Charm City.
posted by Howard_T at 02:01 PM on July 01, 2006
John Mara at #18? The Giants have one of the most profitable and reputable teams in the NFL!
posted by redsoxrgay at 05:44 PM on July 02, 2006
Huizenga is in the top? I always thought he was the sort to dismantal his teams the instant there was a dollar to be made at it. Hardly stellar ownership.