Best owner ever?

Pro wrestling division: Paul Boesch, Don Owen, Sam Muchnick, Vince McMahon Sr.

 

Agreed. A solid owner. Also agree with Dan Rooney, though I would imagine Rooney is higher on his history alone. So, that begs the question, how do you have two of the three major franchises in Pittsburgh with solid to historic ownership, and then you have the Buccos.

Answer? Anytime winning is not your top priority, you have a problem. Why is it so hard form some people to understand, that when you purchase a sports franchise, winning HAS to be numero uno. Hell, making a profit can be a close second for all I care, it just can't be first. Never, eva eva.

 

That's awfully easy to say when it's not your money.

 

I'm not sure "winning" is the point of owning a sports team.

Isn't the point of any business simply to turn a profit?

Which plenty of teams do, year in and year out, without ever winning anything.

 

Many, many moons ago, when I was still scratching out a living as a sportswriter, I was sitting in the slot when our NFL guy (well, he handled the coverage regarding our "local" NFL team) filed a story regarding the team's winning with a plodding offense. He wrote a sentence that was to the effect of "But pro football's not about entertainment, it's about winning." This was long before I'd ever studied business or economics, but I remember thinking, "Hmmmmmmm."

 

What Dick Jacobs did, during his ownership of the Cleveland Indians, deserves mentioning. Took a moribund franchise with little public interest to a pair of World Series appearances. Maximized the move from Municipal Stadium in Cleveland to the Gateway project. Convinced a "Johnny-come-lately" fan base to buy almost $100 million of worthless "stock" to generate revenue and spent that money on players. Did plenty wrong, but made baseball in Cleveland exciting for a decade.

 

Disagree. Steinbrenner, while perhaps not an innovator, did an awful lot to improve the Yankees' revenue flow and the value of the brand.

My vote, however, goes to Veeck and there isn't a close second.

 

Of course, like everyone else on this board, I'm a bit biased, but Bob Kraft deserves some mention. Since 1994, when he bough the team, the Patriots have six Super Bowl appearances, three titles and one of - if not the best - winning percentage in that time.

On a side note, when a poster writes, "End of thread," has it ever actually happened? That phrase bothers me almost as much as "epic fail."

 

Maybe I am idealistic. But if your primary goal is to turn a profit, then maybe you should own an accounting firm.

 

Eddie D. is probably the most beloved and deservedly so... But the "best" owner ever wouldn't lose their team the way he did... He also had the chance to keep the team and gave it to people who ran the team into the ground until two years ago...

LTL's point about the Spurs owner is a really good one... An owner who is behind the scenes as a team wins titles and has had virtually no coaching turnover in a really long time... That's impressive..

Buss would have to be on most short lists...

 

Yes, you are.

 

But if you aren't trying to turn a profit, you'll just go out of business. That's neither idealistic nor smart. Why run a sports business on different terms than you'd run any business?

Teams and team owners want to win not just because it feels good, or makes the fans feel good, or as an act of altruism, but because it puts fannies in the seats and sells television time and ad space on the scoreboard and sells hundreds of thousands of $9 beers.

There are certain exceptions to this, of course, like the Maple Leafs or the Cubs, in which the winning and the losing are largely ignored, but most teams need to win occasionally just to keep their attendance - and their revenue - up.