The Role of NFL Owners in Team Success

Most fans think Super Bowls are won by star quarterbacks and genius coaches. The truth is, the most important decisions are often made years earlier in a boardroom by a billionaire owner. This exclusive club—with only 32 members—operates on a scale that can be difficult to comprehend. For a real-world answer to the question of how much does an NFL team cost, look no further than the 2023 sale of the Washington Commanders. A group led by Josh Harris paid a staggering $6.05 billion, setting a new record for a professional sports franchise and cementing these teams as some of the most expensive assets on the planet.

Why would anyone spend that kind of money? Because an NFL franchise is widely seen as one of the best investments in the world. While the stock market fluctuates, team values have shown near-unstoppable growth. According to Forbes, the average NFL team is now worth over $5 billion, a jump of 14% in just one year. This remarkable asset appreciation means that for the world’s richest football team owners, a team isn’t just a passion project; it’s a financial engine that consistently outperforms traditional investments, generating immense wealth through massive media rights deals, sponsorships, and ever-increasing demand.

However, writing a multi-billion-dollar check is just the first step. The steps to buying a professional football team involve more than just cash. A prospective owner must submit to a deep financial and personal vetting process, not by a bank, but by the other 31 owners themselves. They hold the ultimate power to approve or deny entry into their circle. This vote ensures that the new member has both the liquidity to operate a team successfully and the temperament to protect the league’s powerful brand, proving that getting a seat at this table requires a unique blend of capital, connections, and character.

Owner vs. General Manager: Who’s the Chairman and Who’s the CEO?

When a star player gets traded or a top prospect is drafted, you might see the team owner celebrating, but it’s often another executive—the General Manager, or GM—who is credited with the move. This can be confusing, but a simple business analogy clears it up: think of the owner as the Chairman of the Board and the General Manager as the CEO of football. The owner sets the grand vision, approves the budget, and holds the top people accountable. The GM is the one executing that vision, responsible for all personnel decisions: scouting, drafting, and trading for the 200-plus players needed to build a championship roster.

Most owners follow this “Chairman of the Board” model. They understand that their expertise lies in business, not necessarily in evaluating a 40-yard-dash time. Their job is to hire the most brilliant football mind they can find to be their GM, empower them with resources, and then step back to let them work. For years, Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots was the prime example. He handled the large-scale business of the franchise while Head Coach Bill Belichick, who also held GM responsibilities, managed the roster that defined a dynasty. This highlights the distinct roles and responsibilities of team ownership in a traditional structure.

On the other end of the spectrum is the “hands-on” owner who decides to be both the Chairman and the CEO. Instead of delegating, this owner becomes the ultimate decision-maker on all things football. The most famous example in the league is Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who serves as his own General Manager. When the Cowboys make a draft pick, it is Jones who has the final say. This approach makes the owner the most visible and powerful figure in the organization, blurring the lines between the boardroom and the locker room.

So how can you tell which structure your team follows? Pay attention to who the media quotes after a big move. If you hear from the General Manager explaining the strategy behind a trade, you likely have a traditional hierarchy. If it’s the owner at the podium discussing the specifics of a player’s contract, you know who is truly running the show. While an owner’s level of involvement in football decisions can vary, their ultimate goal remains the same: increasing the team’s value. And surprisingly, that value isn’t built on ticket sales alone.

The NFL’s Money Machine: How Owners Get Rich Off TV Deals, Not Ticket Sales

While a packed stadium looks impressive, the money from tickets, hot dogs, and jerseys is just a drop in the bucket. The real financial engine of the NFL is television. The league negotiates monumental media rights deals with networks like CBS, Fox, and Amazon, collectively worth over $100 billion. This national revenue is the primary reason why every single NFL franchise, regardless of its win-loss record or city size, is phenomenally profitable. For an owner, selling out the stadium is good for local pride, but securing these massive broadcast contracts is what guarantees their franchise’s financial dominance.

This gusher of cash from media deals flows into a giant league-wide pot. The NFL then employs a system called revenue sharing, where it divides that national money—along with income from league-wide sponsorships and merchandise—almost perfectly evenly among all 32 teams. Imagine 32 business partners agreeing to pool their biggest source of income and split it 32 ways. This is the financial bedrock of the league. It ensures that a team in a smaller market like Green Bay can compete financially with a team in a media giant like New York, promoting the competitive balance that keeps fans everywhere engaged.

But if everyone gets an equal slice of the national pie, how does an owner like the Dallas Cowboys’ Jerry Jones become so much wealthier than others? The answer lies in local revenue streams. This is the money a team generates on its own, which it gets to keep a much larger portion of. This category includes everything from the sale of multi-million dollar luxury suites and stadium naming rights (think AT&T Stadium) to lucrative local sponsorship deals and special events hosted at the venue. This is why owners fight so hard for new, state-of-the-art stadiums—they are personal cash machines that create revenue streams separate from the shared league pot.

This two-part system—a massive, shared national income combined with competitive local revenue—is the secret to the NFL’s stability and growth. It makes every team a safe and lucrative investment. This massive, shared financial engine also gives the owners a powerful incentive to work together to protect and grow their collective wealth. They don’t just run their own teams; as a group, they effectively run the entire league.

The Kingmakers: How 32 Owners Collectively Run the Entire League

That massive pot of shared revenue gives the 32 owners a powerful reason to work together. They aren’t just 32 separate billionaires running their own clubs; they are business partners in the colossal enterprise known as the NFL. This transforms them from mere team owners into a collective governing body, essentially serving as the league’s board of directors. Every owner, from the most famous to the least visible, gets one of the 32 seats at the most powerful table in American sports.

Their most significant act of collective power is hiring—and, if necessary, firing—the NFL Commissioner. While the Commissioner, like Roger Goodell, is the public face of the league and wields enormous influence, he is ultimately an employee. His job is to execute the will of the owners, grow the business, and handle the day-to-day management of the league. Think of him as the highly-paid CEO chosen by the board to run the company on their behalf. The real power rests with the people who sign his paycheck.

This group decision-making comes to a head at the annual NFL owner meetings, where they vote on nearly every major issue affecting the sport. A three-quarters majority vote (24 of the 32 owners) is required to approve monumental changes. This includes everything from altering on-field rules, like revamping the kickoff, to authorizing a team’s relocation to a new city—as they did for the Rams and Raiders. No team moves and no major rule is changed without the owners’ collective stamp of approval.

Ultimately, the direction of the entire NFL—from the rules on the field to the cities the teams play in—is charted by this exclusive club. The league office in New York simply carries out the agenda set by the 32 ownership groups. This structure, centered on a small circle of ultra-wealthy individuals or families, is what makes the NFL’s one major exception so fascinating.

The Green Bay Anomaly: Why the Packers are Owned by an Entire City

In a league defined by billionaire owners, one team stands completely apart. The Green Bay Packers are the NFL’s only community-owned, non-profit franchise. Instead of being the property of a single wealthy individual or family, the team is owned by hundreds of thousands of fans. This unique structure dates back to the 1920s, when the team was on the brink of collapse and sold shares to the public to stay afloat. Today, it means there’s no single figurehead like Jerry Jones in a lavish suite; instead, the owners are the everyday people of Green Bay and beyond.

But if you can “own” the Packers, does that mean you can get rich off a Super Bowl win? Not at all. The team occasionally holds “stock” sales to raise money for stadium improvements, but this stock is unlike anything on Wall Street. It’s essentially a certificate of fandom with a few special perks. Owning a share of the Packers grants you:

• A collectible share certificate to frame and display.
• An invitation to the annual shareholders’ meeting in Green Bay.
• The right to vote for the team’s board of directors.

That’s it. The stock pays no dividends, can’t be sold for a profit, and doesn’t increase in value. It’s more of a lifetime membership to a fan club than a financial investment, a tangible symbol of a fan’s stake in their team’s legacy.

So why haven’t other cities, like Oakland or St. Louis, tried this to keep their teams? The simple answer is that the NFL won’t allow it. The league’s constitution now requires every team to have a principal owner who holds a minimum 30% stake, and it explicitly forbids public ownership. The Packers, however, were established long before this rule was put in place. They are protected by a grandfather clause—an exception that allows an old practice to continue even after a new rule has banned it. This makes the Green Bay model a fascinating, one-of-a-kind relic that can never be replicated, reinforcing just how exclusive the 31 other seats in the ownership club truly are.

More Than Money: The Grueling Process of Becoming an NFL Owner

While having billions of dollars is the ticket to the dance, it doesn’t guarantee you a spot on the floor. Before a potential owner can even make a formal bid, they must submit to an incredibly invasive vetting process run by the NFL. The league hires teams of investigators to scrutinize every corner of a candidate’s financial history, business dealings, and personal background. Think of it as the most intense job interview on the planet, designed to ensure that no one who could embarrass the league or threaten its stability ever gets the keys to a franchise. Any whiff of financial instability or questionable associations can disqualify a candidate long before they get a chance to write a check.

Beyond a clean background, the league also demands a clear chain of command. This is formalized in the Controlling Owner Rule, which mandates that a single individual must personally own at least a 30% stake in the team and be designated as the principal owner. Even if a group of investors pools their money to buy a team—which is common—one person must be the ultimate decision-maker and the league’s primary point of contact. This rule prevents the kind of leadership confusion that could cripple a franchise and ensures there’s always one person who is ultimately accountable for the team’s actions.

Even after a candidate passes the league’s rigorous scrutiny and proves they meet the ownership requirements, one final, formidable hurdle remains: the existing owners. Getting into this exclusive club isn’t a right; it’s a privilege granted by its current members. The prospective owner must be formally approved by a league approval vote, requiring a three-quarters majority—at least 24 of the 31 other owners—to vote in their favor. This vote is the ultimate gatekeeping mechanism, ensuring that the owners not only approve of a candidate’s wealth but also accept them as a long-term business partner, cementing the group as one of the most powerful and selective circles in sports.

Breaking the Mold: The Changing Face of NFL Ownership

While the classic image of an NFL owner is often a powerful man in a suit, the league’s boardrooms include a growing number of influential women. In many cases, these women have inherited the franchise and have since become formidable leaders in their own right, steering their teams through critical decisions. Some of the most prominent female proprietors in the league today include:

• Virginia Halas McCaskey (Chicago Bears): The daughter of NFL co-founder George Halas, she is the longest-tenured owner in the league.
• Sheila Ford Hamp (Detroit Lions): After taking control from her mother, she has overseen a significant cultural and competitive turnaround for the franchise.
• Gayle Benson (New Orleans Saints): She assumed control of the Saints and the NBA’s Pelicans after her husband Tom Benson’s passing, becoming a major force in the New Orleans sports scene.
• Kim Pegula (Buffalo Bills): As co-owner with her husband Terry, she has been a key figure in the team’s resurgence and stadium development efforts.

This slow but steady evolution extends beyond gender. While the ranks of controlling owners remain overwhelmingly white, the league has seen a notable increase in diversity among limited partners—investors who own a smaller piece of a team without having the final say. This has opened the door for prominent figures from other fields, like Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton and businesswoman Mellody Hobson, to join ownership groups, bringing fresh perspectives and new capital into the fold. It represents a gradual shift in a club that has historically been one of the most exclusive in the world.

Finally, the league is also experiencing a generational transfer of power. The era of founders is giving way to their children and grandchildren, creating a new dynamic. For example, while Denise DeBartolo York is the principal owner of the San Francisco 49ers, her son, Jed York, serves as the team’s CEO and operating head. At 43, he represents a younger generation taking the day-to-day reins of a historic franchise. This shift ensures that while the names on the ownership deeds might remain within the family, the vision and management style can evolve. But holding one of these 32 coveted spots isn’t a lifetime guarantee, and even the most powerful owners are not above the league’s authority.

When Power Corrupts: How the NFL Can Force an Owner Out

While owning an NFL team feels like the ultimate position of power, it isn’t a lifetime appointment. The NFL Commissioner, acting on behalf of all 32 ownership groups, wields significant authority to discipline owners who step out of line. This can range from massive fines to suspensions from team activities. But the league’s ultimate power play is its ability to orchestrate a forced sale, effectively kicking a fellow billionaire out of their exclusive club. This measure is reserved for the most serious offenses that threaten the stability and reputation of the entire league.

The justification for such a drastic step hinges on a powerful phrase in the NFL’s constitution: conduct detrimental to the league. This intentionally broad clause serves as a catch-all for any behavior—from financial scandal to creating a toxic workplace—that damages the public’s trust in professional football. When an owner’s actions tarnish the NFL’s brand, they are not just hurting their own franchise; they are devaluing the 31 other teams that share in the league’s success. It’s the ultimate backstop to ensure no single individual is more important than the collective enterprise.

This isn’t just a theoretical threat. In 2018, Carolina Panthers founder Jerry Richardson was investigated by the league following multiple reports of serious workplace misconduct. Facing immense public and internal pressure, Richardson promptly announced he would sell the team. While not a direct vote for removal, the league’s investigation and the clear disapproval from fellow owners created an environment where selling was his only viable option. The swift process sent a clear message that certain behaviors would no longer be tolerated within the ownership ranks.

A more recent and dramatic example involved Daniel Snyder, the former owner of the Washington Commanders. After years of controversy, including investigations into a toxic workplace culture and financial improprieties, the pressure from his fellow owners became overwhelming. They made it clear through public statements and internal reports that his continued presence was harming the league. In 2023, Snyder sold the Commanders for a record $6.05 billion. These cases demonstrate that while the Commissioner holds the gavel, the collective will of the other owners is the true force that can compel one of their own to walk away.

The Boardroom Blueprint for a Super Bowl

The path to a Super Bowl begins not on the draft board, but in the owner’s suite. While fans see the on-field product, the true architecture of an NFL team’s success—and the league’s immense profitability—is built on principles of high-finance and collective power. The owner acts as the Chairman of the Board, setting the vision and budget while entrusting a General Manager to execute the football strategy.

This power is amplified by the NFL’s financial model, where massive, shared national media deals provide a stable floor for every franchise. The drive for new stadiums and luxury suites is a push to control lucrative local revenue streams—the key differentiator in wealth and influence. Ultimately, the 32 owners operate as a collective, voting on everything from rule changes to franchise relocations, and even holding the power to hire the Commissioner and force a fellow owner to sell. From the rigorous vetting process for new members to the grandfathered exception of the fan-owned Packers, the entire system is designed to protect its exclusivity and immense value. The game on Sunday is the final act, but the script is written long before in the boardrooms of the league’s most powerful club.