Sizing Up Wallets In The NFL » Brats & Beer

July 2, 2006
posted under: Bob Harlan, moolah, NFL

I came across an interesting thread at Football Outsiders the other day discussing a column at SI.com by Mike Silver ranking the team owners in the NFL. (Yes, it is definitely the dog days of summer when making a list of billionaires passes as journalism.) To cut to the meat of the article, Patriots owner Bob Kraft tops the list, Green Bay is #12, and Tom Benson who owns the Saints is at the bottom. It’s a little tough to decipher Silver’s criteria for what makes a good NFL owner, but it seems like he’s judging based more on recent perception than taking a long term view of franchise ownership. Kraft is no doubt one of the better owners in the league: He’s built a stable organization that has produced successful seasons, and he championed a new stadium that will keep the Patriots in Foxborough for years and that has drawn raves from fans. But then he immediately follows that choice with Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder. Wha?

Another miscue in this ranking is Pittsburgh’s Rooney family falling in at #10. This is one of the most stable franchises in the league that is a cornerstone of that city, certainly the Steelers should be in the top five in this list. And I think Silver goes a little too soft on the Ford family in Detroit, ranking them #22. I’m pretty sure a lot of Detroit fans would put William Clay and Bill Ford right at the bottom for their mismanagement of that woebegone franchise.

Getting to the Packers, I know I’m more than a little biased here, but shouldn’t a community-owned team, the only one in pro sports, trump all others? Green Bay has had and probably will continue to have its troubling moments, but the structure and stability of the franchise ownership is second to none. There’s no chance that the Packers will be sold or moved, and that has made the team a centerpiece of the community that everyone can be proud of, even during the dark days of losing seasons. Heck, Bob Harlan answers his own phone calls from fans, how much closer to the community can you get?