The Detroit Lions won the last of their four NFL championships in 1957.
It was right about then that William Clay Ford bought in and became a minority owner.
He became the sole owner on Jan. 10, 1964, when he spent $4.5 million and bought out all 144 other shareholders. That's right, 144. The Lions went from one of the most owned franchises to, well, the least owned by just about any measure of success.
When Ford died in March, 2014 control of the team passed to his widow, Martha Firestone Ford, who recently celebrated her 90th birthday. She is the majority owner while the couple's four children hold smaller shares.
William Clay was the grandson of Henry Ford. Martha is the granddaughter of Harvey Firestone, the founder of Firestone Tire and Rubber. We presume baked chicken was not the wedding reception entree.
Anyway, this is the 52nd season for the Lions, currently 1-6, under sole control of the Fords, most of them in the person of William Clay.
The box score for the previous 51 years — 15 winning seasons, 32 losing seasons (including a stretch of 10 straight, 2001-10), four break-even campaigns, 11 playoff appearances, 1 playoff victory, and a partridge in a pear tree. Detroit is the only NFC franchise yet to play in a Super Bowl. That isn't about to change this year.
This past Sunday, the Lions trailed 25-17 after a Minnesota field goal and the ensuing kickoff went out of the end zone for a touchback with 6:07 left in the third quarter. The Detroit offense ran onto the field to take over at its own 20.
Apparently all 11 guys didn't get the message. Someone was late to the huddle, the play call was late, the formation was late and the Lions were forced to take a time out. On a change of possession.
The crowd of 60,231 at Ford Field belted out its first massive and collective “boo” of the day. It was not the last. And this is not startling. Lions fans have been booing for the most part of the last half-century.
I was reminded of the slang definition for insanity — doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome.
They open the gates and 60,000 buy tickets, pay an exorbitant amount to park somewhere close, stop by the souvenir store for a Honolulu blue replica jersey, eat at the concession stands, boo, go home. The Lions will be somewhere between 1-8 and 3-6, record-wise, when they return for their next home game on Nov. 22. They'll open the gates and 60,000 will buy tickets, etc. Insane.
I had some business the other day with a gentleman I've known as a Cleveland Browns fan and season ticket holder for many years. I was surprised when he said he had not renewed his tickets this season.
“Had enough,” he said.
Good for him. A break in the line of insanity.
If it isn't bad enough to be a Lions fan, you could be a Browns fan. Or vice versa. We have quite a tasty NFL selection here in NW Ohio, eh?
Compared to the Fords, Jimmy Haslam has a much smaller body of work to evaluate, but the early results since his purchase of the Browns in October, 2012 are far shy of promising.
Since Cleveland's return to the NFL in 1999, the team is 86-177 with two winning seasons and one playoff appearance. Most of that came under the Lerner family stewardship. In either case, it has been a muddled series of mistakes, from the front office to drafts to coaching to quarterbacks.
There used to be more competition for the title of “lousiest owner” in the NFL.
The Bidwill family has owned the Cardinals franchise since the early 1930s, first in Chicago, then St. Louis, and now Arizona. The team is about 200 games under .500 thanks to the Bidwills, and mostly 84-year-old Bill Bidwill, who has been the sole owner since 1972 and is the NFL's longest tenured owner since the death of Buffalo's Ralph Wilson.
Long considered among the cheapest of owners, Bidwill once drafted a kicker in the first round. So much for football knowledge. But his revenue stream has been flowing since getting a new stadium handed to him in suburban Phoenix, his two sons now handle most of the day-to-day operations, and since 2008 the Cards have played in a Super Bowl, made two other playoff appearances, and are likely headed for another.
Mike Brown inherited the Cincinnati Bengals from his legendary father, Paul, before the start of the 1991 season and the somewhat reclusive Mike led a franchise that was most known for frugality and negativity. In 2010, the Bengals set an NFL record for the fewest games (314) needed for one owner to experience 200 losses.
Since then, however, the Bengals have made three playoff appearances and are 6-0 in 2015.
So maybe there's still hope for the Lions and Browns. Maybe owning an NFL franchise means more than having a license to print money.
Ford's investment of $4.5 million in 1964 was a steal, even when adjusted by inflation to about $34 million today. What is the Lions' franchise worth now? Well, Haslam paid $1 billion for the Browns in 2012. You can do the math.
Based on his cost, Haslam figures to have the incentive to eventually get things right in Cleveland, although another house-cleaning may first be right around the corner.
The Lions, meanwhile, have been like an annuity for the Fords. The return is always there, regardless of the results.
Insanity, I tell you.
Contact Blade sports columnist Dave Hackenberg at: dhack@theblade.com.
First Published October 28, 2015, 4:56 a.m.
