Mr. Martins Legacy ALL sports fans, not just football fans, should praise Mr. Martin?s immeasurable contribution to the entire sports world. This classy man brought back memories of fairness, respect for one's opponent, and graciousness in winning or losing to those who long for a time when money, power, and fame was not the reason they played the game.
Falcons would be a good bet. 1) They are an NFC team not in direct competition with the Jets. 2) Arthur Blank bet heavily on Michael Vick. He may be fed up enough to sell the team. 3) Maybe Blank retains a controlling share but sells a portion to Martin's group. It would be a great publicity stunt and help to drastically improve the image of the team. Blank has also been keen to try to cater to black fans in a city with a very large middle class, this move would fit in with that strategy.
I sorta thought that as well, since Martin mentioned how much time he spends in Atlanta (along with FL and NY). My doubts basically stemmed from thinking Blank would be unwilling to give up his ownership, but your points are reasonable.
It is hard to imagine Blank completely selling the team. Another factor is that the Falcons are near the bottom of the list of team values, in 2004 only the Cardinals were worth less.
Cutting costs like building a million dollare LR at the meadowlands? upgrading the parctice facility at Hofstra? getting annew Stadiumn? getting a new practice facility? Saving money on coaches contracts? he offered Parcells thehighest contract of any coach when he took over, he happened to hire 2 new HCs who didnt' deservealot of money at 1st but he paid herm well after he had success and he'll do the same w/ Mangini. Coming in under the cap? We were in cap hell until last offseason, nopw we have room which GOOD teams have. It gives us flexibility. It's bad busines to spend to the cap every year. That Steinbrenner approach has been tried by dan Snyder- would you rather Woody gets invovled in football decisions and spends like a moron while the Jets don't win or have you enkoyed 4 PO appearances since Woody took over?
rumor is it is the Bucs.. Apparently Glazer is very ill & the family wants to run Manchester U. I hope it is an NFC team so at least I can root for him. Bucs work for me.
This would definitely be a good time for the Bucs to switch owners. They are going to have to clean house completely after this coming season.
I definitely don't want Snyder (I knew that would come up), but I 'm not talking about pissing away draft picks and throwing ridiculous amounts of money at david givens and randal-el. Perhaps the mets would be a better comparison. Minaya has done a great job balancing young and old, and an excellent new coach to boot. I know we are probably saving some dough for resignings, but we coulda done a little more this offseason. Building stadiums and business offices are business decisions, NOT football decisions. There is a direct link between the newer stadium models and higher revenues, hence the business model vs. the club model. Yeah, we were in cap hell, and Tanny has done a great job fixing that up. Now I think next off-season will tell us what kind of owner he is. Maybe its just being in such close proximity to Nimoli and Sternberg (devil rays owners) that has skewed my view of ownership in general. Those fuckers are making bank and pocketing it, while their young guys are brought up in a tradition of losing-pathetic. I just hope that when it comes time to make important decisions that they are made with winning in mind, even if they aren't the most lucrative. Last year it was chatham and kassell, this year bowens and barnes...when are we going to make our splash? I sure hope he throws some dough at the o-line when he gets a chance.
You can't compare baseball and football in terms of owners spending. In baseball you have a lot more room for error, there's no cap and you can eat a mistake like the Yankees routinely do. In football, you cap out and a guy gets hurt, you're fucked. You have to be smart, not necessarily just throwing money around.