On The Clock: Owners Have Small Window Of Time To Win Titles

Werner Says Winning Takes Care Of Lot Of Team's Problems

If new franchise owners do not win a championship “within five to eight years of buying a team, depending on the sport, their chances of ever doing so decline dramatically,” according to Beth Healy of the BOSTON GLOBE, in a study of the last two owners of every team in the four major pro leagues. It has taken NFL owners a median time of eight years to win a Super Bowl, with the median time dropping to five years for MLB, NBA and NHL team owners. The “largest slice of winning owners earn their victories within five years.” An owner’s “impatience to deliver championships is a big factor in the results.” Red Sox Chair Tom Werner, who was part of the ownership group that took over in ’02, said, “From the very beginning, we were focused on doing whatever was necessary to win. … Winning takes care of a lot of problems.” Bruins Owner Jeremy Jacobs, who has controlled the team since ’75, said, “We had the experience of getting real close but never really winning it.” He added the club has not won a Stanley Cup since the '71-72 season because the organization “probably got a little old and got a little less performance-directed.” The Celtics’ ownership group bought the team in the middle of the ’02-03 season, putting them “right at the median time frame for winning a title.” Celtics Managing Partner Stephen Pagliuca: “To do what it takes to win it, you’ve got to take some risk” (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/2).

STERLING: The N.Y. TIMES’ Joe Nocera in this month's PLAY magazine, writes under the header, "Big-Time Losers." Nocera: "Behold the spectacle of the Bad Owner. He says he wants to win -- really, he does! -- but he never seems to have a clue as to how to go about it."  Nocera describes the Clippers' Donald Sterling as “the granddaddy of Bad Owners.” Sterling bought the team in ‘81 for $13.5M and it is now worth nearly $300M. However, Clippers President Andy Roeser said Sterling “would never sell for $300[M]. He wouldn’t sell it for $400[M].” Nocera: “No matter what the Bad Owner does, the value of the franchise only goes in one direction: up” (PLAY, 3/’08 issue).

BUSS: In a rare profile of Lakers Owner Jerry Buss, the L.A. TIMES' Bill Plaschke wrote, “No other sports owner in history has adapted better, survived longer, won more.” Buss’ “boldness and competitiveness could again lead this team to another NBA Finals.” He is also “one of the few owners in sports who probably has actually gotten healthier as he has gotten older,” as he has “stopped driving, only drinks wine and has cut down on his clubbing” since he was arrested for DUI in May (L.A. TIMES, 3/2).