By Mardeio Cannon | OBSERVER Columnist
Among the three major professional sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA) there is only ONE African American principal owner: Michael Jordan, who owns the Charlotte Hornets.
If you didn’t know by now, an opportunity has presented itself that should be taken advantage of: Dan Snyder, the owner of the NFL’s Washington Commanders, has made a public comment that he is looking to sell the team. The NFL, where 70% of the players are African Americans, would greatly improve its image by having an African American owner.
The NFL is also the most profitable and successful of all the major-league professional sports leagues by a wide margin. This means that to purchase an NFL team, the new owners will have to pony up a lot of cash. The NFL, being a private business interest, is made up of 90% billionaire owners who do not have to let you in their club if they don’t want to. Donald Trump found that out years ago when he attempted to purchase the Buffalo Bills and was rejected by league owners – most likely because DT didn’t have the money in the bank that was required to purchase an NFL team.
Several African American billionaires should pool their considerable resources and look into making a firm bid for the Washington Commanders: Robert Smith (net worth $6.7 billion), Oprah Winfrey ($2.6 billion) and Tyler Perry ($1 billion). I selected these three because of their clean background and positive public image. I also would add Byron Allen, who owns several media outlets and is approaching billionaire status, as a strong minority owner. The NFL would be under tremendous pressure from a public relations standpoint to admit this ownership group should it submit a competitive bid.
The new ownership also would be blessed to have in place the NFL’s only African American team president, Jason Wright.
Let’s hope that my dream turns into reality.
Kyrie Mess Is Of Nets’ Making
I have to comment about the Kyrie Irving mess that the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets are dealing with. The Nets lost control of the Irving saga several years ago when they allowed him to miss games for virtually no reason without consequences. They didn’t punish him for fear that they would incur the displeasure of their superstar Kevin Durant. Durant still lost respect for team management.
Now Kyrie has become an embarrassment to the team, the city and the NBA. The biggest question is whether any team will sign Irving this offseason, when he’s due to be an unrestricted free agent. His NBA career, despite his enormous talent, may be over. We shall see.