Best owners in sports (past and present)

I have always heard the Dodgers are far more popular in So Cal, having never lived there myself, any truth to that?

I know Moreno wants to become the top dog in LA, a friend of mine who lives in the LA area, said it is going to be really hard.

 

The Dodgers and Lakers are top dogs in L.A., over everything else.

The Angels will never surpass them in the city -- especially since they don't play anywhere near there. They do, however, have plenty of fans around SoCal and seem to have built a big enough niche with their success in this decade.

With the exception of the name change, Moreno has done everything right. Every franchise in professional sports could learn from him.

 

I hate to break up the "The Owner of the Team I Support Is Great!" party (Pittsburgh fans), but:

Whoever kept the Giants in San Francisco. Peter Magowan? They stayed, signed Barry Bonds, built PacBell/ATandT/whatever Park, and retrenched the team there.

There was loud talk about moving that team to St. Petersburg, which would have put a major crimp in the National League's best rivalry.

 

Magowan is a good one.

Not sure I get the Pittsburgh comment. Sure, I led with Rooney, but I'm far from the only one who thinks he deserves on the list. 93Devil and I both mentioned that Lemieux has done a nice job, but still has work to do.

 

Just busting your chops, OOP.

Though I thought the mention of Lemieux was a little fanboyish . . . .

I'm just glad the first response isn't someone trying to sell "Cubs vs. Cardinals!!!" as the NL's best rivalry.

 

93Devil fanboyish? Never!

To be fair, I did think of Lemieux, too, but I thought the resume was a bit light to bring him up.

 

From the auto racing circles, I would nominate Roger Penske. Fair amount of success in NASCAR over the years (though no title) but he has truly made his mark in open-wheel racing, especially the Indy 500.

 

Well, his family still owns it.


One could probably argue Mike Ilitch as well. Took over a Wings franchise that was known as the Dead Things and built them into one of the more profitable teams in the NHL.
Also took over a fairly dead Tigers franchise and made them competitive.

I know some people don't like him on here (and around Detroit), but the record is there. And players have some a willingness to want to play for his teams.

 

No love for Pat Bowlen? I know it's been a rough year, but he may have been right...

 

Ewing Kauffman probably should be on list too. People forget the Royals were a hell of a franchise when he was the owner, a model for how to build an expansion club in that era. He also went to great lengths to make sure the team would stay in Kansas City after he was gone.

 

Ilitch has been kind of the Jekyll-and-Hyde of owners: for the first decade or so he owned the Tigers, he was the epitome of a bad owner, pissing and moaning to get tax money for a new stadium, allowing Tiger Stadium to literally rot around his own ears, hiring idiots to run the franchise (none dumber than the truly galactically-stupid Randy Smith), pinching nickels 85% of the time, then the few times he did attempt to make big trades or free-agent signings, invariably going after washed-up has-beens in their middle 30s or steroid suspects, who mostly flamed out almost instantly. Until about 2004, there was little or nothing to distinguish the Tigers from the Kansas City Royals or Pittsburgh Pirates -- bottom-feeding luxury-tax small-market parasites, not really making any effort to be even competitive.

Then, almost perfectly coincidentally with the imposition of a salary cap in the NHL, he suddenly decided he wanted to become Steinbrenner Jr. in baseball, and started throwing money around by the bucket, and bringing in some talent.

Now, in the NHL, he's been playing the Steinbrenner role for about 15 years. And continued to have a good-to-great franchise, even after the arrival of a salary cap. It would be fun to see how long the Yankees remained a juggernaut if a salary cap came in.

 

Don't mention Bob Kraft around Connecticutans. He held this state hostage while trying to drum up the necessary moolah to build Gillette Stadium. I can still remember Kraft and former Gov. John Rowland holding their press conference to announce a stadium that would be built in Connecticut - maybe where Rentschler Field is now? I don't remember - but Kraft wound up making so many declarations that it wasn't going to fly, and Massachusetts ponied up the cash to keep them in Foxborough.