Worst Owner in Sports History?

Dick Monfort. He actually said Dan O'Dowd is the best GM in baseball.

 

Art Modell.

 

Stepien sued Pete Franklin ... and lost:

http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=19878639OhioApp3d47_170.xml&docbase=CSLWAR2-1986-2006

 

Horn Chen is King Midas in reverse ... what he did to the Ottawa CFL entry was laughable.

His first foray into minor-league hockey was an IHL team in Indianapolis, which he pretty capably ran for 11 years, largely due to an affiliation with the Chicago Blackhawks & a great team president in Ray Compton (an ex-newspaper guy who really, really understood promotion and how to move tickets).

But when the IHL got too expensive, he decided to move the team into the lower-level Central Hockey League -- which he conveniently owned -- and then sold the team with a stipulation that it had to play in the CHL for 5 years. To say the move was hated amongst the small fan base would be an understatement -- the closest rival was a 10-hour drive away and the caliber of hockey was Slapshot-level, at best. So, the new owners tried to move the team into a league that would be more geographically-sensible, and Chen bought it back and subjected us to three more years of CHL hockey.

 

Horn Chen. Now there's a name I haven't thought of in quite some time.

John Y. didn't last in Boston a year before Mangurian bought him out, but it was long enough for Auerbach to nearly join Sonny Werblin in New York. MacAdoo trade was Brown's all the way.

Another vote for Stepien and his bizarre ideas of promotion (Fat Man eating beer cans, Fan Mat eating glass), but Scott Wedman probably begs to differ.

I don't get Modell's nomination and no explanation was offered. Don't see that he was asking for more than what the Indians and Cavs got.

Bill Bidwell: Earned his wealth the old-fashioned way - was born into it, and adopted, no less.

Beef, I agree on Ballard but a trip nonetheless. BTW, best of luck on the family issue (cross thread).

 

It is absolutely criminal that the first mention of the Nutting family didn't come until the second page.

Reminds me of an old joke among Pirates fans.

Question: What is the Bucs' ownership going to do to make this team better?

The answer, obviously: Nutting.

 

The final owners of Glasgow Rangers. That's an impressive feat to allow a global brand to go completely tits up.

 

I am actually surprised a movie has never been made of the Andrew Freedman story.

Think Al Pacino's Col. Frank Slade crossed with Dennis Hopper's Frank Booth owning the biggest franchise in sports (as about the turn of the century, the baseball Giants were).

HOO-AHHH!!!

 

Are we judging owners on how good the teams are or their business model, because Donald Sterling bought a franchise, put next to no effort into running it for decades and still made a ton money. Sounds pretty good to me.

 

What's the story on this guy?

 

The reasonably short version:

http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/51545e58

 

Freedman was a Tammany Hall guy who, in his first year as Giants owner after taking control of the defending league champions, eliminated what we would now call the GM's position and then fired THREE managers during that same season. The next year, he sat on the bench during a July game (a la Ted Turner) and got into an argument with an umpire. The opposing team's captain told him to shove off, and Freedman immediately ordered the police to escort him from the park. Freedman wouldn't let him in the next day, either, and the Giants forfeited that game. It only got worse from there.

Great read on Freedman here: http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/51545e58. EDIT: Starman beat me to it.