- Spend your money to make the team better,
- Hire good people and let them make the main decisions,
- Be a fan, so we know you care as much as we do.
And, of course, win championships.
Unfortunately, many professional sports franchise owners fail to meet the first three qualifications. They get tight-fisted with their money (ignoring that franchise values double about every five years, meaning they are guaranteed to make money when they sell); the meddle with decisions (forgetting that inheriting wealth or making millions for manufacturing widgits doesn't mean you know how to run a sports team) or they don't seem to care (and move the team to Sacramento as a stopover on the way to Las Vegas).
In Bay Area sports history, we've had some terrible sports owners. We had Charles O. Finley, who ran the Oakland A's like a cheap mom-and-pop store; Chris Cohan, who seemed determined to squeeze every penny out of the Golden State Warriors and hired only people he could push around; John Fisher, who seemed determined to do whatever required to offend A's fans.
We also have some current owners with incomplete grades: How will Jed York handle the 49ers post-Kyle Shanahan? Will Greg Johnson continue to trust Buster Posey with the Giants' decisions?
But there is enough information to rank the top five team owners in Bay Area sports history. In reverse order:
5. Morabito family/Horace Stoneham/Franklin Mieuli. They share the fifth spot for their historic roles. Tony Morabito founded the 49ers and following his 1957 death, his family owned the team until 1977. Stoneham inherited the Giants in 1932 and moved the team here in 1958. He owned the franchise until 1976. Mieuli, a producer who worked on radio broadcasts of the Giants and 49ers, purchased the Warriors for $850,000 and moved them to the Bay Area in 1962. He maintained ownership until 1986. Finley is not included, since he moved the A's here from Kansas City, but continued his squeeze-out-every-penny ways in Oakland.
4. Peter Magowan. He was the face of the ownership group that saved the Giants from moving to Tampa, Florida, in 1992. The ownership group has largely remained that – a large group of owners, with someone functioning as the lead dog. Magowan was there to sign Barry Bonds. He oversaw the building of what is now Oracle Park (probably the most important move in franchise history, since it ensured the ongoing success of the team). He was a big fan. Check, check, check.
3. Walter Haas. Amazingly, the A's once had outstanding ownership. The Haas family owned the franchise from 1981 through 1995, which was a glorious run of success. The A's had Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Dave Stewart, Rickey Henderson and more. The ballpark was still nice. Sandy Alderson was in charge of the front office and Tony La Russa was the manager. Haas enabled all of that and when he sold the team, he extracted a promise that the franchise would remain in Oakland. Unfortunately, the next owners didn't get that promise from Fisher.
2. Eddie DeBartolo: The DeBartolo family owned the Niners during their glory run in the 1980s and 1990s, with Eddie at the helm (They still do, but under Eddie's sister Denise and her son John.). When they bought the franchise from the Morabito brothers in 1977, their first move was to clean house and bring in veteran NFL executive Joe Robbie to run things. He fired popular head coach Monte Clark, which seemed like a terrible move, but it was great foreshadowing. The DeBartolos wanted experts to run the team, which led to Bill Walsh, Carmen Policy and John McVay getting keys to the team. They spent as much money as they could (the Niners' payroll in 1990 was $26.8 million, compared to the average NFL payroll of $15.5 million). DeBartolo took the team on lavish vacations and provided lavish championship rings, something no other team did. Five Super Bowls mean something.
1. Joe Lacob: When he bought the Warriors from Cohan in 2010, it was a relief, but there was a distinct possibility it could be just another rich guy buying a toy. That felt particularly true when Lacob subjected himself to several minutes of booing at the Chris Mullin jersey retirement ceremony in 2012 (coming just six days after the Warriors traded fan favorite Monta Ellis to the Bucks for Andrew Bogut). Instead, Lacob is the model owner. He spends however much is needed to win. He hires brilliant basketball minds (Bob Myers, Mike Dunleavy Jr., Steve Kerr) to make decisions. He sits courtside every game. He built Chase Center, guaranteeing a steady flow of revenue. Now he owns the Golden State Valkyries of the WNBA, which will undoubtedly be successful. He's the king of Bay Area sports owners.
Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.
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