Sports Illustrated Picks the Best & Worst Owners in Pro Sports [Archive] - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC

05-17-2009, 05:30 PM

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/05/08/mlb.owners/index.html

5 Ted Lerner Washington Nationals
Purchased 2006

Purchase Price Current Value W-L Winning % Playoffs Championships
$450M $406M 203-282 .419 0 0
Lerner bought the former Expos from Major League Baseball in 2006 with grand visions, but they haven't panned out. Despite a new park within district limits, the Nats are as lowly as they were when they left Montreal -- they've finished in the cellar of the NL East three times in the four years Lerner has owned the franchise. That's bad enough, but then factor in the Esmailyn González bonus-skimming scandal (which led to the firing of GM Jim Bowden) surrounding a Latin player who falsified his name and age while the execs and scouts stood to benefit, and you've got perhaps the biggest recent impropriety in baseball outside of the Steroid Era.

4 Jeffrey Loria Florida Marlins
Purchased 2002

Purchase Price Current Value W-L Winning % Playoffs Championships
$158M $277M 569-564 .502 1 1
The art dealer turned a nation of fans against him with his first team, the Expos, before forcing their move from Montreal and selling them back to Major League Baseball. He then took control of the Marlins and watched his exciting team shock the Yankees in the 2003 World Series and then became Miami fans' worst nightmare: the second coming of Wayne Huizenga. The Marlins slowly have been rebuilding themselves with more young talent, despite the lowest cash outlay provided by any owner, and could be turning a corner soon. That is, until Josh Johnson and Dan Uggla are shown the door like Josh Beckett, Derrek Lee and Miguel Cabrera.

3 David Glass Kansas City Royals
Purchased 1993

Purchase Price Current Value W-L Winning % Playoffs Championships
$96M $314M 1,019-1,342 .432 0 0
During Glass' 16 years, the Royals have averaged 96 losses. More than that, the former Wal-Mart exec is viewed by many as a stoolpigeon for Major League Baseball, open to suggestions from the league office as to how much to bid for free agents and, most prominently, being one of the loudest voices in opposing the players' union during the 1994 strike. In the meantime, he has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the revenue-sharing system, yet hasn't spent much of those funds in the free-agent market. That could turn around this year, with a franchise record $70.5 million payroll. Still, while the Royals probably won't lose 100 games for the fifth time under Glass, they likely won't break their 24-year playoff drought, either.

(Editor's note: The Royals disagree with our assessment. Here is their response.)

2 Tom Hicks Texas Rangers
Purchased 1998

Purchase Price Current Value W-L Winning % Playoffs Championships
$250M $405M 793-827 .489 2 0
It's hard to fault Hicks for trying, because he really is. But the stain of signing Alex Rodriguez for $252 million in 2000, then baseball's biggest deal, won't wash away. Then, trading A-Rod to the Yankees for little in return -- and agreeing to foot some of the bill -- perhaps made it even worse. Beyond that, Hicks made a number of bad signings (Chan Ho Park, Juan González and Rusty Greer, for a combined $110 million, for instance) with ridiculously high price tags to match that left Rangers fans scratching their heads. Meanwhile, Texas hasn't made the postseason in nine years and is the only franchise in baseball that hasn't won a playoff series.

1 Peter Angelos Baltimore Orioles
Purchased 1993

Purchase Price Current Value W-L Winning % Playoffs Championships
$173M $400M 1,128-1,179 .486 2 0
When the Baltimore lawyer took control of the team in 1993, it was a year removed from its Camden Yards debut with a stacked roster Angelos allowed former GM Pat Gillick to build. The O's went on to make the first of two consecutive ALCS appearances just three years later. Then Angelos began his notorious meddling, firing popular manager Davey Johnson, burning through another five managers, killing trades proposed by his GMs and stripping down one of baseball's proudest franchises. The O's haven't finished above .500 in 11 seasons since their last playoff appearance.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/football/nfl/05/08/nfl.owners/index.html

5 Denise DeBartolo York San Francisco 49ers
Took control 2000

Purchase Price Current Value W-L Winning % Playoffs Championships
N/A $865M 53-75 .417 2 0
Niners fans long for the days of Eddie DeBartolo, who was once the envy of the NFL and produced five Super Bowl champions. Following his part in a riverboat-corruption scandal, DeBartolo's sister wrested control of the proud franchise in 2000 and handed the reigns to her husband, John York. Since then the 49ers have become one of the biggest train wrecks in the NFL. Many believe York's curt style is the reason the city of San Francisco isn't willing to work with the team to provide a new stadium within city limits, which is forcing the Niners to look south to Santa Clara County.

4 Mike Brown Cincinnati Bengals
Inherited 1991

Purchase Price Current Value W-L Winning % Playoffs Championships
N/A $941M 99-186-1 .351 1 0
Brown did his legendary father proud by refusing to sell the Bengals' stadium naming rights and keeping it Paul Brown Stadium. But that's about the only tribute he has paid to dad's legacy. For some teams, operating without a general manager works -- take New England, for example. It doesn't in Cincinnati. Despite 17 non-winning seasons in the past 18 years, the junior Brown refuses to hire a GM, a stubborn stance that's the first target of scorn from the long-suffering fans. The scouting department is also notoriously the most understaffed in the NFL, while under Brown's reign, Bengals players have made the news for criminal acts off the field almost as often as for their failings on it.

3 Dan Snyder Washington Redskins
Purchased 1999

Purchase Price Current Value W-L Winning % Playoffs Championships
$750M $1,538M 70-74 .488 3 0
Snyder is a good businessman and spares no expense with one of the most profitable franchises in sports. But maybe that's the problem: The young billionaire runs the team more like a first-time fantasy-football manager. Among the most expensive outlays: nearly $225 million committed to LaVar Arrington, Bruce Smith, Deion Sanders, Laveranues Coles and Adam Archuleta. Though those mistakes were at beginning of Snyder's tenure, Washington still hasn't come anywhere near the Super Bowl and has had five head coaches during his decade of ownership. Think Snyder learned his lesson? This past offseason, he locked up three players -- Albert Haynesworth, DeAngelo Hall and Derrick Dockery -- for a combined $162M.

2 William Clay Ford Detroit Lions
Purchased 1964

Purchase Price Current Value W-L Winning % Playoffs Championships
$5M $917M 281-374-13 .411 9 0
That the Lions became the first NFL team to go 0-16 last season is just the beginning of the team's problems. Detroit has become the league's laughingstock since the auto magnate bought the team 45 years ago, making the playoffs only nine times and winning just one postseason game. Ford blindly stuck by his player-turned-top executive Matt Millen for seven years despite the team's greatest stretch of incompetence. Under Millen's reign, the Lions didn't post a single winning season, never finished higher than third in the NFC North and never came within a sniff of the playoffs. Yet he was rewarded with a multi-year extension at the start of the '05 season before Ford finally fired him three years later.

1 Al Davis Oakland Raiders
Purchased 1966

Purchase Price Current Value W-L Winning % Playoffs Championships
$180,000 $861M 368-264-8 .569 21 4
It's hard to knock three Super Bowl titles, one AFL championship and 21 postseason appearances since Davis bought into the former AFL franchise. Problem is, the game has passed the Hall of Famer by and he seems to be the only one who doesn't know it. Since the Raiders were blown out in Super Bowl XXVII, they've gone a league-worst 24-72 and have blazed through five head coaches since '01, including the fiasco over is-he-or-isn't-he-fired Lane Kiffin this past season. All this ignores the real problem: that Davis is out of touch, refuses to adapt and continues to be infatuated with speedsters (this year the team inexplicably drafted Darrius Heyward-Bey with the No. 7-overall pick) instead of building a deep roster that can compete.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/basketball/nba/05/08/nba.owners/index.html

5 R. Johnson/M. Jordan Charlotte Bobcats
Purchased 2004

Purchase Price Current Value W-L Winning % Playoffs Championships
$300M $284M 144-266 .417 0 0
The Bobcats' two principle owners should stick to what they know best. Robert Johnson (pictured) made himself into a billionaire with his expert crafting of Black Entertainment Television. And Michael Jordan -- well, he's Michael Jordan. But what they're doing in Charlotte defies logic. For two guys with a combined net worth of more than most NBA owners, there's no reason the Bobcats should be so under-funded every year. They've been in the bottom of the league in payroll in each of their five seasons. Why Johnson and Jordan can't provide more from their deep pockets is still a mystery.

4 Chris Cohan Golden State Warriors
Purchased 1991

Purchase Price Current Value W-L Winning % Playoffs Championships
$130M $335M 590-854 .409 3 0
Under Cohan's ownership, Golden State set a record drought of missing out on the postseason for 12 straight years until it reached the playoffs and shocked No. 1 seed Dallas in 2007. But since then it's been back to the status quo for the Warriors, who are stuck in what seems like an everlasting rebuilding mode. In the meantime, Cohan looks almost foolish for sticking with Don Nelson -- a guy he once sued for leaving the club for the Knicks during his first go-around -- now just an outdated dinosaur who openly admits the game is passing him by.

3 Michael Heisley Memphis Grizzlies
Purchased 2000

Purchase Price Current Value W-L Winning % Playoffs Championships
$160M $294M 286-452 .388 3 0
The billionaire was eager to move the team after promising not to leave Vancouver when he bought it. Since then it's been a lot of thrift city. Heisley has not allowed the Grizzlies to go anywhere near the luxury-tax threshold in the last few seasons. This season, they flirted with a third straight 60-loss finish, and nothing has drawn the ire of fans and owners across the league like the salary dump of Pau Gasol last season to the Lakers. "What do they want me to spend, $100 million?" he barked at the Memphis Commercial Appeal in '06. "The point is we're out-spending San Antonio and we're out-spending Phoenix. So the point is whether you're spending money means squat." Guess the playoffs mean squat, too.

2 Cablevision/James Dolan New York Knicks
Purchased 1997

Purchase Price Current Value W-L Winning % Playoffs Championships
$300M $613M 418-534 .439 7 0
Subterfuging two of the most storied franchises in pro sports at once takes hard work, but Dolan has managed both. The business tycoon took a controlling stake in Cablevision in 1999, and immediately both of his marquee sports properties -- the Knicks and the NHL's Rangers -- tailspun into the most futile eras of their respective histories. The Knicks have been particularly bad, with eight straight seasons of less than 40 wins and one playoff appearance. Most embarrassing was Dolan's stubborn loyalty to Isiah Thomas who, in his 4 1/2 years with the team, failed miserably in his countless attempts to retool the roster, including continuing Dolan's habit of grossly overpaying for oft-injured and underperforming stars like Stephon Marbury.

1 Donald T. Sterling Los Angeles Clippers
Purchased 1981

Purchase Price Current Value W-L Winning % Playoffs Championships
$12.5M $297M 773-1,491 .341 4 0
There is no American sports franchise more associated with futility than the Clippers, who have posted only two winning seasons under Sterling's ownership. Marquee players have come and gone -- including Danny Manning, Dominique Wilkins, Lamar Odom, Elton Brand and Baron Davis -- and none has been able to turn around the losing tradition. Though they've achieved some level of stability in the past few years -- notoriously cheap Sterling has cracked his checkbook a tiny bit, and Mike Dunleavy is now the longest-tenured coach in franchise history -- the team is mired in its old losing ways, eclipsing 60 losses for the eighth time under Sterling.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/hockey/nhl/05/08/nhl.owners/index.html

5 Predator Holdings LLC Nashville Predators
Purchased 2007

Purchase Price Current Value W-L Winning % Playoffs Championships
$193M $164M 81-66-0-17 .494 1 0
No offense to the Music City -- it's just not a hockey town. If things had gone right, the Predators would now be playing in Hamilton, Ontario, where a hockey team could thrive. But former owner Craig Leipold backed out of a deal to sell the Preds to Jim Balsillie after the BlackBerry pioneer couldn't promise he would keep the team in Nashville. Instead, a panicked consortium of 30 local investors put together a deal to keep the team from moving. The Preds now face a shaky future in Nashville as the team can break its lease if it loses enough money or attendance drops. With the economy facing an uncertain future and pro hockey fighting against the grain in a non-traditional market, Hamilton may end up getting its team after all.

4 Atlanta Spirit Atlanta Thrashers
Purchased 2004

Purchase Price Current Value W-L Winning % Playoffs Championships
$80M $158M 153-142-0-33 .519 1 0
When Time Warner (SI's parent company) sold the Thrashers in 2003, it was to a group known as Atlanta Spirit, LLC. Ironic that it was neither wholly Atlanta (its partners are also based in Boston and Washington, D.C.) nor spirited (they're involved in an in-house feud with Steve Belkin (pictured) with both sides claiming they have an option to buy each other out). It's a case of too many cooks and not enough direction, as the group has had similar problems with the management of its other franchise, the NBA's Hawks. The Thrashers have been getting steadily worse since their lone postseason appearance two years ago and have squandered talented players like Ilya Kovalchuck, Vyacheslav Kozlov and Bryan Little.

3 Charles Wang New York Islanders
Purchased 2000

Purchase Price Current Value W-L Winning % Playoffs Championships
$187.5M $154M 273-297-37-49 .416 4 0
"If I had the chance, I wouldn't do it again," Wang recently told Newsday about buying the team -- just what Isles fans wanted to hear. He may have opened up his sizable checkbook multiple times, but the software entrepreneur doesn't know much about running a hockey franchise. His impulsive, management-by-committee style has the team in a perpetual rebuilding mode. It often seems like he makes contrarian decisions for the sake of being contrary: Witness his hiring and firing of GM Neil Smith after just 40 days. This past season, the Isles limped to their worst finish since Wang's first year in the owner's box and he's threatening to move the team to Kansas City if he doesn't get a new arena to replace decrepit Nassau Coliseum.

2 Alan Cohen Florida Panthers
Purchased 2001

Purchase Price Current Value W-L Winning % Playoffs Championships
$101M $163M 225-245-38-66 .443 0 0
Thirteen years after their surprise run to the Stanley Cup finals as a third-year franchise, the Panthers' early success seems as much a fluke as hockey in South Florida. Pharmaceutical tycoon Cohen has been unable to find a way to connect with the fans. He made the wrong hire of Jacques Martin as head coach in 2004, then allowed him to be the team's GM as well after Mike Keenan left two years later. Then last April, as the Panthers were slumping to another lame finish in the Southeast, Cohen relieved Martin of his coaching duties but let him stay on as GM.

1 MLSEp Toronto Maple Leafs
Purchased 1994

Purchase Price Current Value W-L Winning % Playoffs Championships
$102M $448M 525-439-89-61 .471 8 0
How can the $1.75 billion owners of the most valuable franchise in hockey continue to so mismanage one of the NHL's most storied teams? The Leafs still haven't won a Stanley Cup in 42 years, and the deep pockets of its parent organization have done little to reverse that trend. But it's not some fat-cat collective running the team from its penthouse suite -- since 1994, MLSE's primary investor has been the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. Unfortunately, the dysfunctional relationship between the two principals -- Richard Peddie and Larry Tannenbaum -- continues to trickle down to the on-ice product, as MLSE is too busy running too many sports properties and breaking ground on too many real estate projects to pay enough attention to the Leafs.

This list from ESPN.com is at least, five years old though:
http://espn.go.com/page2/s/list/owners/010710.html

1. Donald Sterling (Los Angeles Clippers)
Paper Clips are NBA's all-time joke franchise.

2. Peter Angelos (Baltimore Orioles)
Quickly turned one of the majors' classiest franchises into baseball's version of the Clippers.

3. The Brown family (Cincinnati Bengals)
Family patriarch Paul Brown would cringe at Bengals' crazed-chicken approach (CHEAP! CHEAP! CHEAP!).

4. Art Modell (Baltimore Ravens)
Made the people of Cleveland pay for his lack of business acumen and self-control.

5. The Bidwills (Arizona Cardinals)
Bill Bidwill's Arizona Cardinals have been in constant turmoil.
No matter where they relocate they are doomed to failure with clueless ownership.

6. Jeremy Jacobs (Boston Bruins)
Speaking of ruining a proud franchise with frugal ways ...

7. Madison Square Garden (New York Rangers)
Despite more money than any team in the NHL, they haven't been able to get team to the playoffs since 1997. And things are not looking up, especially if they have to trade their future for one-dimensional scoring champ Jaromir Jagr.

8. The Chicago Tribune Co. (Chicago Cubs)
Despite the Cubs' current lofty spot in NL Central standings, penurious newspaper company doomed them to years of mediocrity.

9. Michael Heisley (Vancouver/Memphis Grizzlies)
Came in as hero, left as enemy.

10. Jerry Reinsdorf (Chicago Bulls, Chicago White Sox)
Seems determined to make the fans of Chicago beg for mercy.

Also receiving votes: The Irsay family (Colts), Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys), Jeffrey Loria (Montreal Expos), Peter Karmanos (Carolina Hurricanes), Bill Wirtz (Chicago Blackhawks).

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/2001/0710/1224543.html

Here's a "worst of all-time" list:
http://thefeed.blogs.com/the_feed/2007/05/the_worst_owner.html

Dishonorable Mentions: Harry Frazee (Traded Babe Ruth for 100K), Donald Sterling (Financed Jerry Buss' purchase of the Lakers before turning the Clippers into a laughingstock), The Tribune Company (Wrigley remains Wrigley but a century between titles is really too much), Leon Hess (A wonderful man but a horrendous owner), Tom Hicks (Has done well in hockey but he's baseball's version of the village idiot), Art Modell/Bob Irsay/Walter O'Malley (The slayers of three of the finest spirits in the history of sports).

10. William Daley/Vernon Stouffer/Nick Mileti/Steve O’Neill – Owners of the Cleveland Indians from 1949 to 1993.

There was a reason that Major League was about the Indians. These four guys oversaw a franchise that won about as often as the Washington Generals. After losing in the World Series in 1954 (with a team still benefiting from Bill Veeck’s work building the ’48 World Champions) the Indians wouldn’t return to the playoffs until 1995. They were the only team in baseball to never win a division from 1969-1993, when each league expanded to three divisions, and the list of players who flourished after leaving Cleveland in the four-plus decades of futility is long and illustrious. Off the field, rumors of relocation were constant in the face of low attendance and cash-poor governance.

9. Jeffrey Loria – Owner of Montreal Expos 1999-2002, Owner of Florida Marlins from 2002 to present.

Loria reigned over the death throes of a once popular franchise in Montreal before escaping with one of the most lucrative golden parachutes ever. He harangued the provincial government for a new stadium, took the Expos off of television and became the target of a RICO lawsuit alleging that he effectively destroyed the viability of the baseball market in Montreal. Bud Selig helped orchestrate his purchase of the Marlins while John Henry became the owner of the Red Sox. The Marlins won the World Series in his first full year as owner, which didn’t stop him from firing the majority of the staff that built the team and then oversaw its dismantling over the next few seasons. His most recent transgression was firing Joe Girardi despite his job guiding a green team to a 78-84 record and winning the National League Manager of the Year.

8. Norman Braman – Owner of the Philadelphia Eagles 1985-1994

Recently it was announced that Braman joined the presidential campaign team of Rudy Giuliani, news that was met with violent disapproval by Eagle fans across the internet. Why? He paid himself a lavish salary while sitting on his wallet when players like Reggie White, Clyde Simmons and Keith Jackson walked away from a potentially great team in the nascent days of free agency. There was no salary cap stopping him from keeping his team together in those days nor was there any reason for him to fire Buddy Ryan and replace him with Rich Kotite. An interesting to move in the battleground state of Pennsylvania for Giuliani.

7. Arnold Johnson – Owner of the Kansas City Athletics 1954-1960

How is a guy who was an owner for such a short amount of time ranked among the worst men to ever control professional franchises? By making the team a de facto farm club of the New York Yankees. Johnson was a crony of the Yankee owners of the period and was more than willing to sell promising players to New York to line his coffers and keep his team in the cellar. Between 1955 and 1957, the two teams made 12 trades and the Yankees got guys like Roger Maris, Bobby Shantz, Clete Boyer and Ralph Terry to keep them in championship finery. The A’s got old players and no-talents that kept them in the cellar until Charlie O. Finley bought the team and worked his magic.

6. Ted Stepien – Owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers 1980-1983

Like Johnson Stepien was only an owner for the briefest of periods but unlike Johnson Stepien didn’t have a “special relationship” with only one other team in the league. He helped stock the rosters of the entire Association with his misguided trades. He made so many of them that the NBA instituted what’s known as the “Ted Stepien Rule,” which bars teams from trading first round picks in successive seasons because of the woe wrought by Trader Ted. He ran through more coaches than seasons, including 41 games of Chuck Daly before he went to build the Detroit juggernaut, and turned a 37-win squad into a 15-win one almost overnight. And that’s even before you throw in his old-world feelings about how to build a team.

''This is not to sound prejudiced, but half the squad would be white. I think people are afraid to speak out on the subject. White people have to have white heroes. I myself can't equate to black heroes. I'll be truthful. I respect them, but I need white people. It's in me - and I think the Cavaliers have too many blacks, 10 of 11. You need a blend of white and blacks. That draws, and I think that's a better team.''

Stepien almost killed basketball in Cleveland before selling the team to the Gunds at a very tidy profit. So at least he made out okay.

5. James Dolan – Owner of the New York Rangers and the New York Knicks from 1994 to present

Profligate spending and disastrous performances are the hallmarks of Dolan’s tenure as the boss of Madison Square Garden’s two tenants of note. The Knicks have combined the league’s highest payroll with a record below .500 since the 2001-02 season. The team has made awful trades, botched free agent signings and operated a coaching carousel with Dolan sitting courtside all the while fiddling like Nero when Rome burnt to the ground. The Rangers have improved over the past two seasons, winning their first playoff series in a decade this year, but not before Dolan lavished oodles of money on faded stars like Pavel Bure and Theo Fleury. He’s a miserable manager, rewarding ineptitude time and again while berating and mistreating his underlings and, like everyone on this list, is making himself richer and richer while putting inferior product on the court and on the ice.

4. William Clay Ford – Owner of the Detroit Lions from 1964 to present.

Where do you even begin when compiling the brutal history of Ford’s stewardship of the Lions? A four-time NFL champion in the early days of pro football, the Lions have won exactly one playoff game while owned by Ford. It’s probably not a coincidence that while the Lions have gone down the drain so too has the American automotive industry. With Ford at the forefront of each their demise was preordained. Perhaps his greatest flaw is who he trusts with his asset. Matt Millen was hired in 2001 and has never run a team that won more than six games while getting his contract extended by the owner.

3. Harold Ballard – Owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1971 to 1990

A convicted felon and micromanager that made George Steinbrenner look like a prince among men, Ballard made a mockery of a team that should have been at the top of the hockey heap. He fired people for arbitrary reasons, usually while stinking drunk, and never met a penny that he didn’t want to pinch. When the WHA started up in the early 70’s he didn’t take the threat seriously and was outbid by the upstart league for most of the best players on the club. He kept that up throughout his tenure at the helm, selling off players when they got too pricy but always making sure that he was turning a tidy profit. The team, naturally, never returned to its early heights, not that fans could look to the rafters to remember them. Ballard sold the championship banners to help keep him in silks.

2. Bill Wirtz – Owner of the Chicago Blackhawks from 1966 to present (the Wirtz family has owned the team since 1954)

The Blackhawks haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1961 and any Chicago hockey fan will tell you that is all Wirtz’s fault. He’s overseen trades that sent Phil Esposito and Ken Hodge (along with two Stanley Cups) to Boston and failed to pony up for a contract that would have kept Bobby Hull from leaving for the WHA in 1972. The skimping on players never stopped and extended to a series of anonymous coaches who couldn’t stay out of their own way. He continually raised ticket prices to games in Chicago while refusing to put them on television so that people kept coming to the arena, a scheme that worked for many years. The last decade, however, has seen the Blackhawks go from a civic treasure to an afterthought in the city. They rank last in attendance and if there were a numeric indicator of apathy they would top the league on that front. Not that the NHL cares, though. He’s a member of the Hall of Fame and very, very rich.

1. The Bidwill Family – Owner of the Chicago/St. Louis/Arizona Cardinals from 1933 to present

The Bidwills have tried their hand at the pro football game in the Midwest and in the Southwest but in neither climate have they found a shred of success. The Cards have only played for the NFL title twice in their history, never since 1948. They’ve won just one playoff game in the four seasons that the team’s actually made the playoffs since that year’s championship game. The only other NFL team to not even appear in a conference championship game is the Houston Texans, who have only existed since 2002. After failing to get the city to build a new stadium for him, Bill Bidwill, the aging current owner, moved the team from St. Louis to Phoenix where he recently cajoled municipal authorities into building them a lavish new arena. Not surprising for a guy who grew up at the knee of a mafia-associated father and learned that there’s no deal worth doing unless you end up making your vig at the end of the day. The length of ownership and depths of franchise depravity combine to make the Bidwills the worst owners in sports history.

(Edited to add: As several commenters stated below, it is Bidwill and not Bidwell. Poor work on my part.)