lhglrkwg

December 17th, 2019 at 9:53 AM ^

I really don't know why super wealthy people would ever sell their NFL franchise. It's a money printing operation. I hope for Lions fans that it does sell though

Joined: 07/03/2008

MGoPoints: 88117

mGrowOld

December 17th, 2019 at 9:55 AM ^

Good luck.  If there's one thing a professional franchise cannot overcome it's a shitty owner.  Here in Cleveland we've got one of the worst NFL owners in Jimmy Haslam so I definitely feel your pain.

To me the Ford family seems like the polar opposite of Haslam.  The Ford's are disengaged and let the football people make the football decisions.  They just make poor decisions on which football people they hire.

The Haslams (husband and wife) think they are fucking brilliant even though their only real claim to fame is having rich parents and managing to avoid a federal corruption probe somehow.  They dont let the football make decisions and we have hell to pay for it.  In fact Freddie Kitchens is the FIRST head coach who didnt report direct to the Haslams instead of the GM.

 

Joined: 10/04/2010

MGoPoints: 214092

mGrowOld

December 17th, 2019 at 11:06 AM ^

You know I could set my extremely expensive watch to your snarky responses to me that I bought when one of the three companies I had equity in sold or went public recently (I cant remember which one though - sorry) but I cant find the damn thing right now. I either left it on one of my boats, or in one my cars or maybe in one of my homes but either way the damn thing is gone right now so I guess I'll just have to go buy another one while i look for it.

Joined: 10/04/2010

MGoPoints: 214092

MichiganTeacher

December 17th, 2019 at 9:58 AM ^

So as a distant NYer, my main reaction to this is: Eli Zaret is still around? 

I now expect to see a thread with Amyre Makupson breaking the news that Elon Musk is putting his name on our aero program.

Joined: 10/06/2011

MGoPoints: 9263

WoodleyIsBeast

December 17th, 2019 at 10:16 AM ^

This scares me....Would rather have the Ford family continue failing then have Bezos move the Lions to another city.

 

Imagine living in St. Louis or Oakland and having your team leave.......

Joined: 09/24/2009

MGoPoints: 39966

mackbru

December 17th, 2019 at 10:59 AM ^

There's no good reason why Bezos would feel compelled to move the Lions, who exist in a strong sports market. Seattle already has a team. So do most major cities. A successful team in Detroit mints money. Christ, a bad football team makes money. And the NFL wouldn't want to the team moved out of Detroit anyway. Bezos owns properties all over the place. He doesn't care about the where. He cares about profitability.

Joined: 09/01/2009

MGoPoints: 34197

Sam1863

December 17th, 2019 at 10:19 AM ^

William Clay Ford was the sole owner of the Lions for 51 years. For better or worse, the team is his legacy. And people expect Martha, who was married to Bill for 67 years, to sell her husband's legacy?

Color me dubious. I'd love to be wrong, but this sounds like wishful thinking.

Joined: 04/27/2014

MGoPoints: 29223

mjv

December 17th, 2019 at 10:26 AM ^

This is not good for Detroit.  Bezos has zero ties to Detroit that I'm aware of.  There was no threat of the Lions ever moving from Detroit with the Ford family as owners.

Given all of the moves in recent years in the NFL, this is probably Bezos' method of being the guy who owns the first NFL team in London.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 3685

StateStreetApostle

December 17th, 2019 at 10:29 AM ^

At the opening press conference, Bezos will promise a Lombardi trophy in two days, but it will actually take four, and after they tell Lions fans to pick it up in a Pontiac locker facility, it will show up on the Ford Field porch just in time to be stolen by the Packers

Joined: 01/18/2012

MGoPoints: 36998

UMFanatic96

December 17th, 2019 at 10:30 AM ^

The chances that this has any truthness to it are so slim lol, but I guess you can hope it's true. You have to imagine he would be more willing to spend considering his much higher earnings.

Joined: 06/21/2016

MGoPoints: 6348

1VaBlue1

December 17th, 2019 at 11:16 AM ^

More willing to spend on what?  The Lions are over the salary cap, and they pay the front office and coaches competitive salaries with the rest of the league.  They have dedicated training facilities that are as good as any other in the NFL, and a stadium that is nicer than most.

Maybe he would spend more on general rank & file employees - cleaning staff, security guards, the office administrative pool...  Sure, because Amazon pays top dollar to warehouse workers and delivery drivers!

Joined: 01/31/2016

MGoPoints: 127829

JFW

December 17th, 2019 at 2:25 PM ^

Fair enough. But since Russ Thomas retired the cheapness of the Lions has been more meme than reality. I can remember several years in the 90's where they were worried about cap room. 

No, whether they spend that wisely or scout talent wisely is entirely open to question. 

Joined: 10/20/2010

MGoPoints: 15285

Derek

December 17th, 2019 at 10:37 AM ^

Eli Zaret knows a guy ... who knows a guy ... who's predicting that Bezos will buy the team? In the unlikely event that there's any basis to Bezos's interest in the Lions, it's a ploy in negotiations to buy the Seahawks.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 24495

Perkis-Size Me

December 17th, 2019 at 10:55 AM ^

Normally I'd see a guy like Jeff Bezos, if he was interested in purchasing a team, in picking them up and moving them out west, but I can't imagine the kind of backlash he'd face for moving the Lions specifically. Its not like you're trying to move the Jags, the Bucs, the Panthers, or some other small-market team that won't really rock the boat. The Lions, for all of their many faults, are not a small-market franchise. 

That being said, if the Lions want to truly have a chance at changing their fortunes, a change in ownership is what you have to do at this point. If you have one bad year, you can blame the players. Two to four bad years, blame the coaches. Five to seven-ish bad years, you've got a problem in your front office. When you are this bad for this long, and not just bad, but historically inept year in and year out, you've got poor ownership. And unfortunately, unless the owners themselves want out or do something truly egregious that requires them to be forced out (i.e. criminal activity) there's absolutely nothing you can do about something like that. 

Joined: 11/30/2011

MGoPoints: 106375

Hotel Putingrad

December 17th, 2019 at 11:54 AM ^

Honestly, this could go either way. He wouldn't be the first bored billionaire to try purchasing an NFL team just to get his competitive juices flowing. 

But every indication is that Sheila Hamp is all-in on the team and continuing her parents' legacy of ownership.

There would be no incentive to relocate the franchise, because the stadium and practice facilities are top notch, and the local market would be heavily invested in the team's fate with new ownership. 

Bezos could do wonders for the SE Michigan economy with even just a minimal Amazon footprint.

But at the end of the day, I just don't see the Fords selling. They seem to wear the fact that Lions fans detest them as a badge of honor.

Joined: 12/10/2014

MGoPoints: 212928

michmike

December 17th, 2019 at 12:30 PM ^

SO----Mr. BEZOS is throwing his name in the hopper along with so many other BOZOS who would even think of buying that uranium-turned-critical mass of an NFL franchise????

Joined: 06/15/2011

MGoPoints: 27