Most destructive team owners

[Inky_Wretch]

Every damn Pirates owner since the 1970s.

 

[wicked]

John Spano. Kinda hard to be considered a good owner when you commit fraud in order to buy the franchise.

I thought the sale never went through, but I was wrong.

Also, once a con man, always a con man. He’s been in prison twice since the Islanders nonsense.

https://www.si.com/.amp/nhl/2015/06/19/ap-us-john-spano-hockey-con-man-forgery-sentence

 

[wicked]

Also it sounds like Connie Mack’s sons were a piece of work.

 

[Batman]

Leonard Tose deserves a mention.
Drunken gambler who racked up $25 million in debts at Atlantic City casinos, which forced him to have to sell the Eagles. Before he did it, though, he almost moved the team to Phoenix.

 

[Driftwood]

Teresa Earnhardt

 

[qtlaw]

Bud Adams destroyed the Houston Oilers.

Al Davis destroyed the Oakland Raiders twice and the Los Angeles Raiders once.

Horace Stoneham destroyed the New York Giants.

Walter O'Malley destroyed the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The franchises kept going, but if you lived in those cities, your team was destroyed. The LA Dodgers were not the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was not losing money. At some point, his stadium issue would have been resolved.

Sometimes franchise moves can be justified financially, if you are losing money. Anything beyond that is simple greed, IMHO, often couched as a "smart business decision" or some other narrative. Other's mileage will vary, obviously.

I’ve spent some quality time with someone who was very close to Bud and that guy was a really good dude from the stories he told me.

 

[DanOregon]

Some organization should give an award to the worst owner of the year, criteria being loathsome behavoir, team performance and fan dissatisfaction.

I think last year the winner would have been the NWSL in its entirety.

 

[LanceyHoward]

Ted Stepien in the NBA
McNall in the NHL
All-time MLB HOF selection: Andrew Freedman of the NY Giants around 1900. Finley is in the running as well.

I share your general disdain for Charlie Finley but the three consecutive World Series Championships keeps him off this list.

 

[LanceyHoward]

Bud Adams destroyed the Houston Oilers.

Al Davis destroyed the Oakland Raiders twice and the Los Angeles Raiders once.

Horace Stoneham destroyed the New York Giants.

Walter O'Malley destroyed the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The franchises kept going, but if you lived in those cities, your team was destroyed. The LA Dodgers were not the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was not losing money. At some point, his stadium issue would have been resolved.

Sometimes franchise moves can be justified financially, if you are losing money. Anything beyond that is simple greed, IMHO, often couched as a "smart business decision" or some other narrative. Other's mileage will vary, obviously.

Art Modell belongs on this list. The reasons the Browns suvived is because Modell did not understand the contract he signed with the city.

 

[LanceyHoward]

Norman Braman, aka “That Guy in France.”

I wouldn’t call him “destructive,” per se, but that Eagles team should’ve won at least one Super Bowl with Randall Cunningham and the Gang Green Defense.

And the only reason he owned the team was to keep Leonard Tose from gambling it away. He really didn’t give much of a ****.

I would think Leonard Tose would qualify as the all-timer worse Eagles owner, not Bramen. Not to defend Braman but he did threaten to move the team to cover gambling losses.

 

[MisterCreosote]

I would think Leonard Tose would qualify as the all-timer worse Eagles owner, not Bramen. Not to defend Braman but he did threaten to move the team to cover gambling losses.

All true, but Tose at least hired **** Vermeil and got to a Super Bowl. Even still, he’s hated, but not as much as Braman.

Braman gets a lot of flack for his feud with Buddy Ryan, who was beloved, and for letting Reggie White walk with no effort at all to re-sign him. It was part of the purge of all things Ryan, during which more than half of that legendary defense was shown the door in one off-season.

And then he hired Rich Kotite.

“That Guy in France” remains an all-time great nickname, though.

 

[outofplace]

The franchise was always a mess except for a couple brief blips, and it didn’t change until Parcells.

Don’t know how I forgot the Nuttings, but they’re a prime example. The franchise is now irrelevant. They have one of the best ballparks in the majors. How often do they sell out the place?

Nutting is a truly horrible owner, but mostly just continued and amplified what was already happening in Pittsburgh. Of course, there was the lie that they needed a new ballpark to compete. They got it, arguably the best ballpark in MLB, and they have largely wasted it. This is the asshole who, when the team finally got into the playoffs after 20 years of losing seasons, immediately slashed payroll and raised ticket prices.

That said, I can't put him on the level of a piece of **** like Snyder.

 

[Jesus_Muscatel]

If the Cowboys had gotten to just one or two NFC Championship games since 1995, that might keep the critics at bay. But nope, they haven't gotten to even one. They're thanking their lucky stars for the Commanders and Lions, which haven't been since they played each other in 1991.

The Cowboys did win a road playoff game for the first time in 30 years, which is a positive.

Depends on your perspective.

 

[LanceyHoward]

All true, but Tose at least hired **** Vermeil and got to a Super Bowl. Even still, he’s hated, but not as much as Braman.

Braman gets a lot of flack for his feud with Buddy Ryan, who was beloved, and for letting Reggie White walk with no effort at all to re-sign him. It was part of the purge of all things Ryan, during which more than half of that legendary defense was shown the door in one off-season.

And then he hired Rich Kotite.

“That Guy in France” remains an all-time great nickname, though.

All true, but Tose at least hired **** Vermeil and got to a Super Bowl. Even still, he’s hated, but not as much as Braman.
Braman owned the team from 1985 until 1994. In those nine seasons the Eagles were 79-63-1. They made the playoffs four times.

Rich Kotite went 26-22 in three seasons. His worse record was in his last season when he went 7-9. There was enough talent left on the roster that they went 10-6 and made the playoffs the next two seasons. For whatever Kotite was mediocre in Philadelphia. He became a joke with the Jets.,

Braman may be unpopular but he was not a disaster as an owner. He left the franchise in at least marginally better shape than he found it and in decent shape overall, which is something you can not say for the other nominees on this tread.

 

[Batman]

Norman Braman, aka “That Guy in France.”

I wouldn’t call him “destructive,” per se, but that Eagles team should’ve won at least one Super Bowl with Randall Cunningham and the Gang Green Defense.

And the only reason he owned the team was to keep Leonard Tose from gambling it away. He really didn’t give much of a ****.

I know Norman Braman is not beloved in Philadelphia, but he's not the biggest reason they didn't win a Super Bowl in that era, let alone multiple Super Bowls. The 49ers, Giants, Redskins, Bears and Cowboys — all of whom had at least one all-time great team during the Eagles' window from 1986-93, and all of whom beat up on each other as much as the Eagles and some other quality teams — had a lot more to do with it than their own ownership did.
As good as those Eagles teams were, there was really only one season (1991) that I think fans look back at with total regret. The guy who derailed that season was Bryce Paup, not Braman, and even with a healthy Cunningham they probably would've still had to beat a great Redskins team at RFK just to get to the Super Bowl.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Also it sounds like Connie Mack’s sons were a piece of work.

Yes they were. Killed the Philadelphia A's.

 

[micropolitan guy]

I’ve spent some quality time with someone who was very close to Bud and that guy was a really good dude from the stories he told me.

My friends from Texas who were Oiler fans obviously feel differently.

 

[Neutral Corner]

Screw Bud Adams right through the pants of his powder blue leisure suit.

 

[Starman]

I share your general disdain for Charlie Finley but the three consecutive World Series Championships keeps him off this list.

Threatened to move the team virtually every year he owned it. I believe he was in negotiations to buy the A's in Philly from the Mack family before Yankee poodle Arnold Johnson entered the picture; he threatened to move them then, too.
During the team's dynastic run in the early 70s, they were rarely among the top half of the AL in attendance, they should have been busting box office records every year.
Most of his vaunted "innovations" -- orange balls, mules in the outfield, the mechanical rabbit, the pennant porch and chalk lines in the outfield -- were stupid stunts which did nothing to enhance the experience of the average fan.
Plus he was so cheap and personally abusive to the players that after free agency arrived, they were hell bent to get out of there ASAP.
In fact, Jim Hunter, the first A to hit the free agent market, was made a free agent a year before the Messersmith decision and the arrival of true free agency, because Finley had flat out breached his contract -- failed to make payments.

 

[qtlaw]

Threatened to move the team virtually every year he owned it. I believe he was in negotiations to buy the A's in Philly from the Mack family before Yankee poodle Arnold Johnson entered the picture; he threatened to move them then, too.
During the team's dynastic run in the early 70s, they were rarely among the top half of the AL in attendance, they should have been busting box office records every year.
Most of his vaunted "innovations" -- orange balls, mules in the outfield, the mechanical rabbit, the pennant porch and chalk lines in the outfield -- were stupid stunts which did nothing to enhance the experience of the average fan.
Plus he was so cheap and personally abusive to the players that after free agency arrived, they were hell bent to get out of there ASAP.
In fact, Jim Hunter, the first A to hit the free agent market, was made a free agent a year before the Messersmith decision and the arrival of true free agency, because Finley had flat out breached his contract -- failed to make payments.

Even as a SF fan, I hated to see Finley just cheapskate his way for a team that won 3!! WS in a row. He was awful.