NFL and McCombs hold Reggie Fowler’s fate

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 2/16/2005

 

Phoenix, Arizona — Never in 85 years has an African American been the principal owner of an NFL franchise. That could change soon.

There are 32 teams across the 50 states of the U.S. Major progress has been made in recent years from a social diversity and fairness standpoint, with a record six Black head coaches currently on the sidelines.

Seventy-nine percent of the league’s players are also African American. The NFL is without question the undisputed most popular sports league.

The Arizona Republic quoted Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie recently: “My feeling is diversity, in any aspect of life, is important. Whether it’s players, coaches or management. Every organization and every high quality sport or entity should always seek diversity. So there is no reason ownership can’t have diversity, too,” Lurie said.

The NFL has been far from diverse along ownership lines, but now that can change. Reggie Fowler, a successful, 46-year-old Chandler, Arizona, businessman, is in position to make history.

Quietly over the last six months, he has been in serious negotiations with current owner Red McCombs and the NFL to buy the Minnesota Vikings.

Fowler has reached an agreement with McCombs to buy the team for $630 million. The official announcement could come this week. If the sale were approved, Fowler would become the NFL’s first Black owner.

He is not the first African American former player to be in position to join the elite ownership group. Former Green Bay Packer great Willie Davis and the late great Chicago Bear Walter Payton both had failed bids to secure NFL expansion franchise ownership.

Fowler is the CEO and owner of Spiral Inc.; he owns manufacturing, aviation and real estate companies, and a cattle ranch. He played in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals and graduated from Wyoming University.

He is a native of Tucson, Arizona, and entered into exclusive negotiation agreement rights with others prohibited from making offers. League rules state that an individual must have majority control. Fowler must own a minimum of 30 percent of the team. There can be up to 25 partners.

The price tag is believed to be between $600 and $650 million, McCombs’ asking price. McCombs bought the Vikings back in 1998 for $250 million with the help of the NFL.

Shortly after author Tom Clancy’s ownership bid was found to be a fraud, McCombs borrowed $100 million from the NFL and financed the other $150 million to purchase the team through investment powerhouse J.P. Morgan.

Because of that historically unique arrangement, any agreement reached on the purchase of the Vikings between Fowler and McCombs would have to be approved by the NFL twice.

First, the league would have to agree with McCombs on the purchase agreement of $630 million if Fowler has what it takes. Then, next month at the owners meetings in March in Hawaii, the league’s 32 team owners would have to approve the sale by a minimum of 24 votes in favor — or vote again later this year at a special session.

The NFL has essentially had control over McCombs and this franchise since 1998. No matter who owns the team, the franchise is no longer in danger of being moved to Los Angeles, because the league plans to put an expansion franchise in the nation’s second largest city in the near future.

The Vikings were the very last NFL team to hire an African American as an assistant coach. In 1988, Jerry Brown, now an assistant head coach at Northwestern University, was hired by then Vikings head coach Jerry Burns.

Timberwolves fire

Flip Saunders!

The Minnesota Timberwovles, a Western Conference Finalist last year and preseason choice to win the NBA title, has fired Flip Saunders, the franchise’s all-time winningest coach (411-325 record since 1995).

General Manager Kevin McHale replaced Saunders as coach on an interim basis after the team struggled with a 25-26 record.

Saunders was the only coach to guide to the Timberwovles to the playoffs (eight times). Because of his success as coach, the heightened expectations forced the hand of the Timberwolves.

On replacing Saunders, McHale, his former teammate at the University of Minnesota, said, “It’s very hard, because Flip’s a very good friend of mine. I’ve known him since I was a kid. I just did not think the team was playing at a level that it had too, just energy-wise.”

The team is currently 25-27 and has lost eight of their last nine games after losing Sunday at home to the Chicago Bulls 87-83 in McHale’s debut as coach. “All I’m trying to do right now is trying to get us back up fighting and competitive. If the guys will fight, we got a chance. The only thing you can do is quit or fight. And we’ve just got to keep fighting,” said McHale.

With the All-Star break approaching, the Timberwolves are in the ninth spot in the tough Western Conference. The top eight teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs.