Team owners

[Immortalfire]

Let's gripe, moan and even praise the ones who make it possible...the team owners.

Good
Tom Hicks - Dallas Stars/Texas Rangers. Seven division titles, two western conference titles, a '99 Stanley Cup championship, great team, fans, and was one of the key players in getting the American Airlines Center built. Although Rangers leave a lot to be desired, I like what he's done with the Stars.

John Henry - Boston Red Sox. Took over in '02. Tons of cash, and can get practically any player he wants. And two World Series wins since that time. What else can you say?

Peter Holt - San Antonio Spurs. A Vietnam vet, construction equipment tycoon, alcoholic. He's as Texas as they come. His star-stacked team has delivered him four championships in less than a decade.

Robert Kraft - New England Patriots. Spygate or not, he's got the money and three Super Bowl trophies this decade.

Medium
Paul Allen - Portland Trail Blazers/Seattle Seahawks. He owns teams because it's fun. I understand that, but they need to deliver a few more results.

Arthur Blank - Atlanta Falcons. His heart and intentions are in the right place, you just need the right staff and players to make it happen.

Mark Cuban - Dallas Mavericks. In spite of his whining and NBA conspiracy ideas, I do like his fanboy mindset. Sitting in the stands, wearing team apparel during the games? I'd probably do the same thing.

Bad
Bill Wirtz - Chicago Blackhawks. After death, we all have to be remembered for something. Too bad he'll be remembered (or forgotten) for his countless screw ups with the B'Hawks. But now he's dead, the fans are coming back, the team is getting going in the right direction.

David Glass - Kansas City Royals. No doubt as a Wal-Mart CEO, you've got some cash to spare. Though there's no sense in using it to make your team better, is there?



Others?

 

[DarthRekal]

Great! Jerry Buss - kobe didnt shake him.. shaq didnt shake him...
always committed to winning

Good - Frank McCourt .. like arthur blank intentions are good.. and REALLY understands the HISTORY of the Dodgers

 

[Johnny Blaze]

Glazers = awesome. Hired the right people to turn the Bucs around.

Also have to give a thumbs up to Sternberg for what he's done with the Rays. He's made it known that Tampa Bay is no longer the farm team for the rest of the league and has commited to keeping our top prospects and players signed.

 

[thehippie]

i like ziggy wilf.....
i highly dislike the owner of the twins carl pohlad, he is beyond a horrible owner...
also red mcombs(from when he owned the vikings) worst owner ever....

 

[Natalie Portman]

Bill Davidson - great owner of the 2004 NBA Champs (Pistons), 2004 and 2006 WNBA Champs (Shock) and the 2004 Stanley Cup Champs (Lightning).

Mike Ilitch - restored the Tigers to respectability, 2006 AL Champions. Owns the NHL dynasty the Detroit Red Wings, a perennial contender even after the salary cap introduction.

BAD OWNERS

William Clay Ford - Owns the Lions. 'Nuff said

 

[Badger]

Another horrible owner, that Chick from Cincy (the one that wanted to sex Hitler).

 

[Cmill216]

Who owns the Bengals?

Because whoever they are, they suck.

 

[Immortalfire]

Who owns the Bengals?

Because whoever they are, they suck.

Mike Brown. And yes he does suck as an owner.

 

[Captain Planet!]

You can add Peter Angelos to the list of "Utterly ****ing Terrible".

 

[rdh007]

Bill Davidson - great owner of the 2004 NBA Champs (Pistons), 2004 and 2006 WNBA Champs (Shock) and the 2004 Stanley Cup Champs (Lightning).

Mike Ilitch - restored the Tigers to respectability, 2006 AL Champions. Owns the NHL dynasty the Detroit Red Wings, a perennial contender even after the salary cap introduction.

BAD OWNERS

William Clay Ford - Owns the Lions. 'Nuff said

Yeah, The D is 2 for 3.

 

[Immortalfire]

Yay, I was looking for this thread.

Anyone else good, bad or in the middle?

 

[rdh007]

Bill Davidson - great owner of the 2004 NBA Champs (Pistons), 2004 and 2006 WNBA Champs (Shock) and the 2004 Stanley Cup Champs (Lightning).

Mike Ilitch - restored the Tigers to respectability, 2006 AL Champions. Owns the NHL dynasty the Detroit Red Wings, a perennial contender even after the salary cap introduction.

BAD OWNERS

William Clay Ford - Owns the Lions. 'Nuff said

Update based on Mitch Albom in SI:

William Clay Ford's had one playoff win as owner. Hired Millen who then used all their first round picks between 2002 and 2005 (based off their on-field ineptitude) to pick a qb, receiver, running back, and two receivers with two of those people now out of the league all together and none of them on the Lions any more.

In the last 45 years since he's been owner they've had 13 "permanent" head coaches and none of them ever were a head coach in the league again.

He's made Detroit into a professional football graveyard.

 

[Kaleb]

You can add Peter Angelos to the list of "Utterly ****ing Terrible".

and while you at it put Dan Snyder in that list as well

 

[SurfDUI]

Jimmy Irsay

 

[vindrow]

Good owners: The Rooney family

 

[ih8nyy]

Jeremy Jacobs- Boston Bruins. Chairman NHL board of Governors. Tons of cash from concessions companies at arenas around the country and everything else Delaware North owns, including the TD Banknorth Garden. Consistently named one of the most influential people in the NHL by The Hockey News. Had the cash to spend and didn't do it to get a Cup in the late 80's early 90's, always crying poor, before he lead the drive for the new NHL salary cap and drove a fan base into the ground. Now getting lucky with some decent management that is building through the draft. Owns team with the most points in the NHL and of course will force the B's to probably cut salary after this season. Most hated owner after Bill Wirtz in the NHL for years and years.

 

[ih8nyy]

i like ziggy wilf.....
i highly dislike the owner of the twins carl pohlad, he is beyond a horrible owner...
also red mcombs(from when he owned the vikings) worst owner ever....

He's now dead.

 

[Shifty]

Jeremy Jacobs- Boston Bruins. Chairman NHL board of Governors. Tons of cash from concessions companies at arenas around the country and everything else Delaware North owns, including the TD Banknorth Garden. Consistently named one of the most influential people in the NHL by The Hockey News. Had the cash to spend and didn't do it to get a Cup in the late 80's early 90's, always crying poor, before he lead the drive for the new NHL salary cap and drove a fan base into the ground. Now getting lucky with some decent management that is building through the draft. Owns team with the most points in the NHL and of course will force the B's to probably cut salary after this season. Most hated owner after Bill Wirtz in the NHL for years and years.

What's his health situation like?

I hate the Leafs so I'll enjoy writing this up:

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (58%)
CTVglobemedia (7.5%)
TD Bank Financial Group (14%)
Kilmer Sports Inc. (20.5%

Larry Tanenbaum, Chairman
Richard Peddie, President and CEO

They're all happy making money and not improving their teams because 6 million people are in their marketplace and will pay anything to see a Leafs game (18,000 seats), after being brainwashed by CBC and TSN that the Maple Leafs are the greatest team ever.

Since 1991:
Toronto Maple Leafs: 4 Conference final defeats, haven't made playoffs since 2004.

Hired JFJ Jr. and any hockey fan will tell you how that turned out. And they'll tell you the circus that occurred after trying to get Brian Burke as GM. Since becoming owners in 1991, every other Canadian team has won a Stanley Cup ('93 Habs) or at the very least made a trip to the Finals ('94 Canucks, '04 Flames, '06 Oilers, '07 Senators). Prior to the salary cap they would trade draft picks/prospects or go crazy with free agents which continues to haunt the team.

Since 1998:
Toronto Raptors: 5 playoff appearances, 4 first round exits

Tanenbaum took an active interest in the Leafs and Raptors, attending as many home games as possible. He had a close friendship with Raptors star Vince Carter. On the morning of the day of Game 7 of the 2001 Eastern Conference Semifinals (Raptors vs Philadelphia 76ers), Sunday, May 20, Tanenbaum used his private jet to fly Carter to his UNC graduation. In that game, Carter missed a game-winning shot with 2.0 seconds remaining and shot just 6 of 18 from the field.

Since 2005
Toronto Marlies:
The AHL had a strong presence in Atlantic Canada in the 1980s and 1990s, but by 2004 the St. John's Maple Leafs were the only remaining team in the region. Although the team was extremely popular and had excellent attendance, the desire of the parent Toronto Maple Leafs to reduce travel costs and have a tenant for its Ricoh Coliseum resulted in the team's relocation to Toronto for the 2005–06 season. Previous minor league and junior ventures in Toronto had not met with success, and there was a general feeling that Toronto fans were only interested in the Toronto Maple Leafs, and not other levels of hockey. With the Marlies as the Leafs top affiliate, it was felt that this obstacle could be overcome, however, attendance of barely 2,800 for the Marlies first home playoff game in April 2006 again raised questions about the viability of the franchise.

2 playoff appearances, actually made it to 3rd round but Toronto media even ignored them.

Since 2007:
Toronto FC
0 playoff appearances
Did build a soccer specific stadium but again they're just happy filling it with people who have money to spend.

 

[Kingfish]

Arte Moreno - Anaheim Angels (unofficial name of course)

I'll give him a respecting medium. On the positive side, he is willing to put his money into the team and wants to win. He has a good image, and makes the effort to treat his customers right.

The only thing keeping him from being a great owner, in my opinion, is the name change. I can understand wanting to create a larger market for your business. But to call it something that it flat out isn't is just ridiculous. It is a misrepresentation of the city that has treated them so well for decades. Ultimately, it has brought them more media attention, but the majority of it being jokes and sarcastic comments from bad Sportscenter announcers. The entire name change fiasco adds up to nothing more then a bad publicity stunt while betraying tens of thousands of loyal fans who saw their entire city pushed into the irrelevancy of a tacky add on to the name. This makes him, at best, a medium, at least in my book.

 

[ih8nyy]

Slinger, Jacobs is in excellent health from what I know. His son has stepped in and seems to be running more of the day to day stuff and they are letting the hockey people do their jobs. Thank God. But he's still a cheap SOB. I love that the Celtics won a Championship in his Building. I can only hope that finally made him jealous enough to finally let the organization make a move at the trade deadline and pick up a little salary.

Note to Mr. Jacobs. You make more money selling hot dogs and beer the later you play into May and June.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Bad
Fred Wilpon- He owns the Mets. For now until his idiot son gets more power. He has the resources to put a lot of money into the team but runs it like a small market team. His nostalgia for the Brooklyn Dodgers inspired him to build the new stadium as a replica of Ebbets Field. If that wasn't enough, the rotunda will be named Jackie Robinson Rotunda; a man who never spent a day in a Mets uniform. The only thing he deserves credit for is not selling the naming rights of Shea Stadium to a corporate sponsor. That's it though. I wish he lost more than $300M so he'd have to sell the team. He did take blame for how the team mismanaged firing Willie Randolph (who deserved to be fired).

 

[Ironfan72]

Who owns the Bengals?

Because whoever they are, they suck.

Yeah, it's Mike Brown, he has done the worst job of any owner in the NFL, including Detroit.
Mr. Brown has done a great job running the team like a business, Cincinnati ranks around #12 in profits, which is amazing for a small market team, however, he did not inherit his fathers football sense, he refuses to hire a GM to run football operations as well as having the smallest scouting staff in the NFL, relying instead on his coachs to do the scouting.
He, to his cedit, is very loyal, and tends to make coaching decisions based on that loyalty, hiring former Bengals players and assisant coachs for the head coaching position. Names like Bruce Coslett, Dave Shula and Dick LaBeau were all people Mr. Brown was loyal to.
It was a big deal when he actually went outside the organization and hired Marvin Lewis and gave him unheard of power to run the team, and for a time Coach Lewis had turned the team around, drafting Carson Palmer, Chad Johnson, TJ Houshmandzdeh, Rudy Johnson, Peter Warrick on and on.
But with each good player, were busts, Ki-Jana Carter, Big Daddy Dan Wilkerson, Akili Smith & David Killinger all drafted by Mike Brown.
The team, I fear will always be this way, as he will eventually turn control over to his son and daughter, who have a good business sense, but the jury is out on their football sense.

 

[Matt]

Good owners: The Rooney family

Yep

Bad owner: Robert Nutting. Why? Two words: Pittsburgh Pirates. Pittsburgh ****ing Pirates. Need I say more?

 

[Immortalfire]

Yeah, it's Mike Brown, he has done the worst job of any owner in the NFL, including Detroit.
Mr. Brown has done a great job running the team like a business, Cincinnati ranks around #12 in profits, which is amazing for a small market team, however, he did not inherit his fathers football sense, he refuses to hire a GM to run football operations as well as having the smallest scouting staff in the NFL, relying instead on his coachs to do the scouting.
He, to his cedit, is very loyal, and tends to make coaching decisions based on that loyalty, hiring former Bengals players and assisant coachs for the head coaching position. Names like Bruce Coslett, Dave Shula and Dick LaBeau were all people Mr. Brown was loyal to.
It was a big deal when he actually went outside the organization and hired Marvin Lewis and gave him unheard of power to run the team, and for a time Coach Lewis had turned the team around, drafting Carson Palmer, Chad Johnson, TJ Houshmandzdeh, Rudy Johnson, Peter Warrick on and on.
But with each good player, were busts, Ki-Jana Carter, Big Daddy Dan Wilkerson, Akili Smith & David Killinger all drafted by Mike Brown.
The team, I fear will always be this way, as he will eventually turn control over to his son and daughter, who have a good business sense, but the jury is out on their football sense.

Maybe Brown's kids will be like Rocky Wirtz; owner of the Chicago Blackhawks. His father the previous owner was a total idiot, but the son has really turned things around and the Hawks are going in the right direction.

 

[ih8nyy]

Maybe Brown's kids will be like Rocky Wirtz; owner of the Chicago Blackhawks. His father the previous owner was a total idiot, but the son has really turned things around and the Hawks are going in the right direction.

No kidding. Any owner that wouldn't allow his team's games to be televised has no clue and the ceremony they held last year on opening night when the fans cheered his passing tells you all you need to know.

Of course hiring John McDonough as President away from the Cubs was huge. He is doing a great job of bringing back former players and re-energize the fan base. It's great to see them starting to thrive again and they still have the best Home uni in Hockey hands down.