Worst Owners in Sports (past and present)

Donald Sterling says "what about me?"

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4187729

 

Norm Green, Minnesota North Stars.

Norman Green, the North Stars owner, issued the ultimatum and was the first to make good on it, in 1993. Unable to coerce a new deal out of the Twin Cities (and with his local mall business failing and facing a sexual harassment suit in the Minnesota courts), he packed up his team and headed to Dallas.

http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/12/the-morning-skate-how-did-the-coyotes-mess-happen/

 

1.) Fred Wilpon

 

Has to be in the conversation...

 

Geez, this is a long way into the thread without mentioning Bill Bidwell. Yeah, I know the Cardinals made the Super Bowl last year, but to go 36 years without hosting a playoff game is insane (they actually went 61 years, but Bill wasn't the principal owner until 1972).

EDIT: Damn!

 

Randy Lerner and Larry Dolan are probably up there.

 

I was thinking beyond wins and losses when I started the thread. I think you could make a case for Al Davis as being one of the best owners in terms of challenging the status quo, hiring minorities, women, supporting players. Sure he's run the franchise into the ground and been a bit of an a-hole, but he's stayed out of court (when it wasn't his choosing).

 

Line up all the Niners greats from the 80s and they would lie down in traffic for Eddie D. They won five five rings under the guy and you want to call him one of the worst owners ever in sports? Are you fucking serious?

 

Beyond wins and losses?

Well, if it weren't for Art Modell, NFL revenue sharing never would have passed and the NFL would not have the parity that it's had for the last 20-30 years.

Is he one of the greatest owners ever? Not even close.

 

A good choice from the way-back machine.

And when Freedman's bluff was finally called and an AL team was allowed to move to New York, Ban Johnson selected some of the most corrupt owners ever to take charge of the new Highlanders:

Big Bill Devery, a Tammany Hall pawn and the first NYPD police chief (who was later forced out of the department on a variety of corruption charges), and Frank Farrell, who was heavily involved in the gambling scene in NYC (including being close friends with Arnold Rothstein.)

Don't ever say that baseball was almost "ruined" by gamblers and the Black Sox scandal. Baseball's leadership courted that crowd for years.

 

Sterling is the worst by a mile.

Tribune Company has to be up there as well.

Al Davis used to be an evil genius. Now, he's just a crazed lunatic.

For all her faults, Schott put some winners on the field and she had a rep for being good to the Cincy fans (as long as they weren't black, Jewish or gay) ha ha...

 

Hockey's had some winners. From Bill Wirtz to crazy-ass Harold Ballard, it's quite a fraternity. I'm sure SJ Canuckistan has several more.