I don't see how Daniel Snyder is #5 ahead of Dan Rooney 9, Pat Bowlen 10, Jeffrey Lurie 6.

I love the caption " Though he has yet to make the Redskins a consistant winner, owner Daniel Snyder has succeeded in making his team one of the most valuable in all of sports".

Fans want their team to win. Why should the casual fan care how much his team is worth for his owner? All little danny snyder does is run his team like a business.

He would much rather bring in an overrated free agent probowler ( to sell jerseys), than draft and build a team the right way. This team more than any other team is run to make every last dollar they can.

Remember in 2000 when he brought in Deion, Bruce, Mark Carrier etc. and charged fans to watch practice? It was nice that Carolina sent some scouts to this practice and beat them the first game of the year.

Danny tries to close public parking lots, so that fans would have to use his pay lots. He will try and squeeze every last dollar out of you while he can. The Redskins organization is like a rotten fish that stinks from the head on down.

I live outside of washington but I would never pay 1 dollar to support that cheapskate of an owner.

So, he doesn't like Wayne Weaver, therefore he is a bad owner?

Snyder over Rooney is a joke.

Seriously, since he doesn't really define his criteria at the outset, this is a meaningless article. If he likes or agrees with you, then you are rated highly, and he may point out certain things that make an owner good, but since we don't know how he really rates them it's difficult to really disagree. Poor work.

Snyder at #5 is criminal. He is good at squeezing more money out of the franchise, but anyone who knows anything about the Redskins knows Snyder has very little to do with the current value of the Redskins. He purchased a team that owned its own stadium in a wealthy market when the NFL was on an upswing in popularity. I'm no fan, but it was the Cooke family that built the franchise into what it is, partly by successfully keeping football out of Baltimore for so long.

Kind of funny - to me anyway - that Silver knocks Rooney down the rankings (or up, he actually ranked him tenth last year?) for not retaining Cowher, when one of the biggest criticisms of Rooney no more than five years ago was that he held onto Cowher too long and "would never win the big one as long as he did."

And i'd say that the Rooney's have done a pretty decent job at paying market value for their players.

Just because the Steelers don't throw huge free agent deals at guys like Bruce Smith and Brandon Lloyd and Antwan Randle-El and whoever else...doesn't mean they don't spend money.

I don't see how Ford can possibly be rated so highly. I mean seriously, has anyone done more to damage their team than he has over the past forty years? It takes something special to only win one playoff game since the mid-sixties.

It's probably just his GMs' and coaches' fault though. Get rid of Millen and that franchise will perk right up.

He is right on about Huzeunga needing to forgive Ricky Williams' imaginary debt. Its amazing how these people have one set of standards for coaches and those in their social class and another for players and normal people.

I don't get why Glazer(s) are so high on the list. It is well documented that he wouldn't build them a new practice facility despite the fact that the old one was a rat-infested hell-hole. He shouldn't be congratulated for relenting, he should be indicted for taking so long. He fired Dungy which for my mind was foolish and he is talking about pursuing Plummer for his signing bonus when he retiring from another team.

I also think it is stupid to blame the Bears ownership by saying Mike McCaskey is no use when he has nothing to do with running the team any more. Ted Philips and Jerry Angelo have done a prety good job of running the Bears. New stadium, top facilities and one of the best rosters in football, while also drawing a line in the sand with regard to player conduct. His critiscisms of the Bears offseason simply demonstrate (to anyone who was previously unaware) what a poor writer Silver is. He is annoying, glib, very often incorrect and those glasses make me want to cut his face off.

Bob McNair at #7??! If people quibble with Snyder at #5, then surely McNair at 7 is utter lunacy.

Kraft, Richardson, Laurie, Rooney and Bowlen seem to be the best owners when factoring the most important things to fans:

1. Financially committing to winning, and...

2. Letting those knowlegable in football make the decisions.

Snyder and Jones have open pocket books, but I think the meddling factor brings them both down to the middle of the pack. The Redskins seem to go after every big name washed up veteran while the Cowboys can thank Jerry Jones for the QUincy Carter era

*Yawn*

I am way beyond caring about emotional opinions. All this article does for me is to emphasize the importance of stating your criteria and assumptions (as applicable).

In other words, it shows me why I appreciate the work that FO does so much.

I'm glad to see Jerry Richardson, one of the true good-guys in the league, get some recognition.

Is it really that amazing? It's not as if nearly everyone doesn't have a different set of standards for "their social class" then those outside (read: below) it.

In fact, I don't believe there has ever been a time in American history where the average person had more contempt for others than right now.

Not that I'm defending Huizenga mind you, in fact I think he should be ranked among the bottom ten for hiring incompetents and currently presiding over the worst period in Dolphins franchise history.

That last post was directed at #8 BTW.

I think the main--and only--criteria for this article was profit made. At least, that's how it reads and why Jones and Snyder are so high.

What about Jim Irsay, I'd rank him slightly behind Kraft, Bowlen, Rooney, Lurie and Richardson for his past drug issues, but he fits the same criteria as a fairly hands off owner that puts up the financial support to field a winning team. It seems like he was knocked down on the list because Polian is a jerk, especially to the media.

McNair made a horrible job of his initial hirings for the GM and senior coaching position back in '02 (Casserly, Capers, Fangio et al) but he spends a lot of money on his team and is utterly committed to making the Texans a winner. He's got better football people around him now (I'm not totally sold on Kubiak, Sherman and Smith, but they're sure as hell a big improvement on the last lot) and he's also done a good job of keeping the club full of high character guys from top to bottom. Ownership is one of the things that isn't wrong with the Texans.

Why does Silver give owners credit for personnel decisions that have nothing to do with them?

The only relevant criteria for ranking owners should be:
-providing funds for player salaries
-ensuring quality stadiums and practice facilities
-not allowing the roster to be full of recidivist thugs
-STAYING OUT OF FOOTBALL DECISIONS

That's why Snyder and Jones belong in the bottom half, not the top five.

he’s building a big mall out by Gillette Stadium that’s actually going drive business to Foxboro the other 355 days of the year.

Wow- there's already a gigantic mall in North Attleboro, about ten miles south of Foxboro, and there's a huge outlet center in Wrentham that's about five miles away from the stadium.

As a Pats fan I give Kraft all of the credit he deserves- there's no question the team would have moved had it not been for him. Having said that, I think this is the first time I've seen "building a mall" being praised as an altruistic move :)

#16
I think Irsay will forever be associated w/ his father's unbalanced trade of John ELway along with moving from Balt. in the middle of the night.

He does seem to fit the criteria of what I laid out above, in that he is a big spender and lets Polian run the show. DOn't forget at the time Manning came out many people debated between him and Leaf as the better prospect and the COlts obviously made the right choice by not buying into the Leaf hype.

Stupefying. Before reading the comments I clicked to this, scrolled to the bottom (of the printer-friendly version ... is there a fraternal website code that requires you to link to page one of NINE?) and started scrolling up to see where Snyder and Jones would be.

I about fell off my chair when I had to scroll all the way back up to get them. And that the case he makes for both of them is that they're vulturous capitalists who "try so hard" they @#$! up their football operations?!

(I'm also impressed that Wayne Huizenga can get into the top ten because he might someday become "less of a hypocrite.")

Yeah, criteria. What everyone said.

As a Jet fan, I could care less where Woody Johnson is ranked. Middle of the pack seems about right, I suppose. He's no genius, but he was smart enough to hire Tannenbaum and Mangini and that's good enough for me. But the anonymous quote attributing the failure of the westside stadium plan to Johnson is the babbling of someone with absolutely no idea about NY politics.

We can say what we want about Jerry Jones, but the fact is the team has been successful both financially and on the field under his watch. How many teams have won three superbowls under a single owner? They've had their bad spells, notably when Jones first became owner and then after the glory years until Parcells took over. Some might say that Jones didn't have anything to do with those winning seasons and it was all Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells--but then, it was Jones himself who hired both of them.

I get that he's a hard person to like based on some of his decisions throughout the years, but the Dallas Cowboys have been successful under Jones, and for that I think he deserves mention as a good owner.

I like where he ranks Richardson, simply because the guy is committed to the city of Charlotte. The deal to get Bank of America to be the stadium sponsor would not have gone through if the Bank had seen any problems with the relations between him and the city. I've been to quite a few games, and every time I go, I find him sitting with normal fans and letting complete strangers into his box just because he's that nice.

Brandon-
Given the talent the Cowboys had, almost soley b/c of Jimmy Johnson's evaluations and trades (Herschell Walker),the COwboys should have been elite for the entire decade of the 90s and not just the first five years.

Jerry Jones forcing Jimmy Johnson out is the prime example of ownership screwing up a winning situation.

How many teams have won three superbowls under a single owner?

The Cowboys are the only one who haven't, and even there it's two for Murchison and three for Jones. (I think the Colts are the only two-time winners who had different owners for each.)

I think the list is about the talents of the owners right now, not the talents of the owners 10 years ago. I don't think anybody who's been paying attention can really claim that Jerry Jones is the same owner now that he was in the late 90's. He wasn't as meddlesome when Dave Campo took over, and Parcells pretty much put a stop to him for awhile. And he absolutely swindled Arlington on getting all that money for the new stadium. There's really only one reason not to put him very close to the top of the list, and I'm surprised nobody's mentioned it since it has a hell of a lot more relevance than the Gailey/Switzer Era. HE LET SEAN PAYTON GET AWAY! We could've been Superbowl bound this year with that offensive guru at the helm. It's the same mistake I'm sure pretyt much every owner in the league would have made, but Jerry Jones is supposed to be one of the best in the league according to that stupid list. Let bygones be bygones. The 90's don't have a whole lot of bearing on today. But damn did he screw up with Sean Payton.

#27

I think you are correct that Jones had a great coach under his roof in Payton and let him go, but how was he supposed to keep Payton around? Sack Parcells? That would have been a brave move which he would be commended for in hindsight but which very few (if any) owners would make. If he had forged a pact that would have put Parcells in a difficult position which he would probably just have walked straight out of. How would Payton have coped with Owens?

Do you think that the signing of Garrett is a reaction to having watched Payton walk from under his nose?

pharmboyrick-
I will agree with you that Jerry Jones made a mistake in letting go Jimmy Johnson--however, the fact remains that the Cowboys have had very successful seasons under Jones. Jones also has shown a willingness to make unpopular decisions that I think is a virtue--things like firing Tom Landry and releasing Emmitt Smith, Troy Aikman, and Larry Allen through the years.

I was just trying to say that putting Jerry Jones in the top ten is defendable, in my opinion.

I would have put Ralph Wilson at #32. A guy who complains about how his team doesn't make enough money while passing up naming rights so that he can name the stadium after himself is pretty indefensible. And William Clay Ford has to take the blame for keeping Millen on.

As for Wayne Weaver and Tom Benson, they're in crappy cities. Like everyone else, I wish they'd just move and get it over with, but it's not their fault.

>>Let's forget, for a moment
>>... Millen's obsession with
>>men whose last names start
>>with the same letter as
>>his.

What does that even mean? Does anyone really think that Millen hired Morninwhig, Mariucci, Marinelli and Martz because their names started with M?

nice decemberists reference!

Dan Snyder #1 owner. Redskins most valuable franchise. All other teams paupers. Redskins to buy Super Bowl in '08. Buy tickets now.

I think it's pretty strange that Rooney is so low, and I think it's outright crazy that Jones and Snyder are so high.

At the risk of defending Ralph Wilson too strongly, it should be noted that his perceived vanity in naming the Bills' stadium after himself is a myth.

The truth is that:
1) No Buffalo company was willing/able to ante up naming rights. Adelphia? Behtlehem Steel? Umm... people need to read the business section more often.

2) Any naming rights the Bills could have (realistically) had would not have made up for the inequities in the collective bargaining agreement that nobody wants to talk about.

Say what you want about Ralph 's management style, but the fact remains that Ralph has kept the team in Buffalo despite (and I am speculating here) what are probably almost constant and lucrative offers to move the team. Ralph's supposed "vanity" would probably be better served with a billion dollar facility in Los Angeles county. In these days, that has to count for something.

Probably the worst article I have read in a year, including all the made up ones on my fantasy football league pages. I lost 5 IQ points reading that thing. Al Davis not at least #30? Mike McCaskey still running the Bears? Who the, what the? Dan Snyder's great because he doesn't care how much money he spends, even though his teams are mediocre and no fun to root for? Ralph Wilson . . . ahhhh, ungggg . . . (head exploding).

I wish my owner sold the team to Danny Snyder... sure, my favorite team wouldn't win many games, but they would make the owner a whole lot of money, pinching every penny out of fans. Terrible terrible article.

I don't speak up very often, but I will echo others who have suggested that this article has no criteria other than the author's biases. However, even though I should just let it go, I have to point out that his ranking of Mike Brown at 32 in 2006 and 31 in 2005 seems ridiculous in light of the author's invitation to "ask yourself if you'd want this person in charge of your team." Please understand that I am no big Brown supporter. For many years I said openly that "now that Paul Brown is dead, I'd like to see the Brown family lose the team." I don't feel that way anymore. As I have aged, I realize more and more how lucky I am to be able to root for a local team in Cincinnati. The market situation is even worse than for the Reds because of the advent of the Colts in Indy (I live in SE Indiana exactly half way between Cin and Indy. It used to be all Bengals, now is at least half Colt fans) and the Titans. Brown had all the same opportunities to move that jerk Modell had or that Wilson, Weaver and Benson have, but he didn't take advantage of them. In the past Brown has been derided for his frugality, but the franchise is a family business no less than the Steelers, Giants or Bears and the Brown family "wealth" is on the line no less than Snyder's. The franchise seems to be on firmer footing now, especially since Mike Brown "pinned" the IRS in Tax Court. (And who can really not admire someone who puts the fear of God in THAT institution?) But all that aside, Brown did concede control to Marvin Lewis and the Bengals have not had a losing season since 2002 and seem well-positioned with a prolific quarterback (perhaps 3rd best in the NFL) and offensive players locked up for multiple years (and aren't we always hearing how offensive success is more easily sustained than defense?)

The low 2005 rating seemed to be tied to Brown's having spent the 2nd least money in free agency since 1994. Well, somebody in that organization has been paying a ton of money to homegrown talent over the past couple of years. The bad 2006 rating seems to be because Brown won't fire all the people who've been arrested and because he used an analogy that offends some people. Well, rightly or wrongly, the Brown family has a long history of giving perceived criminals second and third chances. Corey Dillon just to name one (this post is growing out of control). Also, saying "I used to like X, but then realized it was bad," by saying "a lot of people thought Hitler was OK at first, too" may offend somebody's sensibilities, but doesn't make it untrue. For example, a lot of people used to think O.J. Simpson was a nice, funny guy.

Defenders of Ralph need to explain to me why no succession plan is in place. As the rest of the old AFL owners died off, each had a plan in which their franchises would pass on. Some trained and put family members in charge. Others sold their pieces to other owners with the remainder transferring on the day of death. Wilson, at 88, has no such plan and seems content to see his legacy not protected in the city of Buffalo. For that, his ranking at #30 is justified. I haven't even gone into his inability to take advantage of obvious revenue streams and constant whining about being a small market team while pocketing $31m in profits in '06. This guy is the proverbial "old economy" owner. The sooner folks come around, the better. He needs to develop a transition strategy sooner rather than later - and until he does that, he'll always be a mediocre owner.

I think a good simple question to ask when comparing owners is: if the owner of my favorite team swapped franchises with this guy tomorrow, how would I feel?

If Rooney and Snyder swapped teams, I'd be sick to my stomach. Eventually I'd probably stop following the Steelers.

#37:

I'd like to find out more about this "Mike Brown Beats The IRS" story, since I've never heard of it before. What happened?

BTW I wouldn't use the phrase "locked up for multiple years" in reference to the Bengal players, or any pro athlete. But maybe that's just me. And since when does the Brown family have a "long history" of giving "criminals second chances'? I never heard of Paul Brown doing this. Or anybody but Mike.

And I'd be far more offended by anyone saying they used to like Hitler, and they still do. At least if someone realizes Player X has gone bad it gives me hope for humanity.

38:

How many of the original AFL owners are even dead? Hunt is the only one I can think of for sure. The guys who originally owned the Chargers and Jets might be. Otherwise they're like Castro and Dick Clark, it seems like they'll be around forever even when I get old.

Well, one thing you have to keep in mind is that "football player crime" stories were much less prevalent years ago, which is a trend revealed in all major US sports, so that many off-field issues and player foibles were generally unknown or less known. I also haven't had time this morning to look up Paul Brown quotes, though I will do so, but he stated many times that even in Cleveland, he took the position that he would overlook a players "immature" actions as an amateur on the theory that people mature over time and would behave better once they were being paid to do so. (I do remember, before somebody else brings it up, that as he got older, he believed that much of that expectation was gone due to the fact that rising salaries gave the team much less control over the player, for many reasons) Everyone can give a list of malcontents tolerated by MIKE Brown, such as Tremain Mack, Carl Pickens, Takeo Spikes and Harold Green. However, ONE shining example that most people will remember from the PAUL Brown era is Stanley Wilson, but there were others such as Pete Johnson and Ickey Woods (hmm... all running backs?) as well as others whom we have forgotten or never noticed because they DID clean up their acts.

I actually intended to answer your question about the IRS, but I am running out of time. In a nutshell, Paul Brown wanted to buy out his co-owners in such a way that his heirs would be able to keep the team in the family, without seeking outside investors in the future. Mike concocted a plan that involved a rather complicated way of trading shares to Paul's heirs in exchange for future team revenues to the old co-owners. Then, since it was all technically out of Paul's name before he died, there would be little or no value to the team for estate tax purposes when Paul died. The IRS objected to this procedure and the Brown family position was upheld.

Al Davis had bad years recently, but he still best owener.