Professional sports teams shouldn’t be considered an “investment”, they should be passion projects with the end goal being to bring championships and civic pride back to cities. Yes, they are extremely valuable, but with their value constantly increasing, only good owners deserve to be rewarded. And it’s definitely time for bad owners to be held accountable for their lack of winning.
That’s why, I’m proposing the “Fans First” rule which should guarantee owners make a concerted effort to put the best possible team together rather than maximizing their revenue.
The rule is simple, if a team doesn’t make the playoffs for 10 straight years, the owner is forced to sell. And here’s the kicker, they can only receive back what they paid for it. The team would be sold at it’s current value, but anything over what the owner paid for it is invested back into the community.
Fans deserves owners who actually want to win! It’s not fair for people to invest their hard-earned dollars on tickets and merchandise only for teams to sit in the cellar of their leagues year after year. And I think 10 years is more than enough time for an owner to show their commitment to winning.
Amazingly enough, there are actually only 4 Teams who fall under the “we’ve sucked for a decade so it’s time for a new owner” rule.
Since the Jets have been in the news the most lately with how poorly run their organization has been, let’s see how this rule would impact them. In 2000, Woody Johnson IV bought the Jets for $635 million. Based on current Forbes estimate, the Jets are currently valued at $3.55 Billion.
What could be more motivating for an owner to get their team winning than the possibility of losing $3 billion dollars. And let’s be honest, there’s no way that a guy who has tormented a fanbase for 20 years should be allowed to walk away with just under $3 billion dollars.
Under this rule, owners have to make a commitment to winning. 10 Years in a long time, and they should be able to put a competitive team together at least once. Look at the Tampa Bay Rays, they have one of the winningest teams for the past decade and they are in a division with the Yankees and Red Sox. So how the hell do the Seattle Mariners go 17 years without making the playoffs?
Now since the owners would have to approve a rule change like this, it’s never going to happen. But I do think it’s time we start thinking of new ways to put pressure on owners to create a winning organization.
