Aging Ownership

Sports Illustrated's Peter King recently wrote about the aging of the NFL's owners in a column on his terrific Monday Morning Quarterback website. It was interesting. Very sad but interesting. I was actually thinking about the very same thing after Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer's passed nearly two weeks ago. His was the fourth death among the NFL's owners since October:

October 21: Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams
March 9: Detroit Lions owner William Clay Ford
March 25: Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson
May 28: Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer

Wellington Mara (2005), Lamar Hunt (2006), and Al Davis (2011) have also passed in the past decade.

There are thirteen current owners who are more than 70 years old:

Virginia McCaskey, 91, Chicago Bears
Alex Spanos, 90, San Diego Chargers
Tom Benson, 86, New Orleans Saints
Bill Bidwill, 82, Arizona Cardinals
Dan Rooney, 81, Pittsburgh Steelers
Mike Brown, 78, Cincinnati Bengals
Jerry Richardson, 77, Carolina Panthers
Bob McNair, 76, Houston Texans
Stephen Ross, 74, Miami Dolphins
Robert Kraft, 73, New England Patriots
Jerry Jones, 71, Dallas Cowboys
Arthur Blank, 71, Atlanta Falcons
Pat Bowlen, 70, Denver Broncos

Virginia McCaskey, Bill Bidwill, Dan Rooney, and Mike Brown are all second generation team owners. They took over ownership of the teams from their fathers. As Peter King points out in his column, some of the teams with aging owners have strong family plans in place. Art Rooney II, Katie Blackburn (Mike Brown's daughter), and Michael Bidwill are in line to step up as third generation owners. Other owner's kids Jonathan Kraft (Patriots), Dean Spanos (Chargers) and Stephen Jones (Cowboys) have already made their presence felt at league meetings.  John Mara and Clark Hunt have emerged in a leadership position in the league after the deaths of their fathers. Mara is a third generation owner. Hunt is a second generation owner.

A strong professional sports league is made that way by strong ownership. Wellington Mara, Lamar Hunt, Al Davis, Bud Adams, Ralph Wilson were backbones of the AFL/NFL since the 1960. The immense popularity and resulting financial success that the league has enjoyed has come in that time. Even with the sad recent passing of so many the league is in strong hands. The children have learned from their fathers. No matter how much of a financial monster the NFL becomes the league remains a family outfit.