Article from 6 years ago...Yorks must go | Page 2

Originally posted by 9erB4Us:
@ fortyninerglory

I've read an online article almost just like the one you put on this thread, but the NFL officals were named. It seems like some of the other NFL ownerships were concerned about the 49ers becoming an non-elite team, due to their losing ways under the York ownership, and they addressed this to Rodger Goodell. Rodger Goodell, and Carmen Policy got together with Larry Ellison over dinner to discuss the possibility of him buying the 49er Franchise.

Commissioner Rodger Goodell also discussed the issue over with John York, and told him, that if the 49ers did not change from being a losing Franchise, the Yorks should consider selling the team.

All this information is available on Google.

I'm assuming it is this article:

NFL owners might welcome Ellison purchase of 49ers / Some insiders express desire for Yorks to sell team
October 16, 2004|By Ira Miller, Chronicle Staff Writer

Larry Ellison, billionaire founder of Oracle Corp., is interested in owning a National Football League franchise and recently met with the league's commissioner to discuss plans for Los Angeles. But there may have been another California city on the agenda, too.

Some NFL owners are concerned about the decline of the 49ers -- both on the field and in fan interest -- under the stewardship of owners Denise DeBartolo York and her husband, John York.

Owners of other teams, speaking on condition of anonymity, bemoaned the 49ers' troubles on the field, and one said "the whole league" wished they would be sold to a new owner. The 49ers' old stadium and their declining attendance are of serious concern.

NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, accompanied by Roger Goodell, the league's executive vice president and chief operating officer, met Ellison over dinner in San Francisco. The group also included Carmen Policy, the former president of the 49ers and Cleveland Browns who now lives in San Francisco, and a couple of Ellison's associates.

Greg Aiello, the league's vice president of public relations, had only a "no comment" on the meeting and said that, although the quest for a Los Angeles franchise and stadium had been going on for years, the NFL was not close to any action. An Oracle representative said the company also had no comment.

Another source familiar with the meeting raised the San Francisco issue.

"Don't ever think that perhaps part of the commissioner's interest in coming to dinner wasn't ultimately directed towards the North, as opposed to the South (of California)," the source said.

Los Angeles has been without an NFL franchise since the Raiders and Rams left before the 1995 season, and it is a high priority for Tagliabue because an L.A. team almost certainly would increase the value of the new television packages. The current deals expire after the 2005 season.

But some team owners contacted by The Chronicle expressed equal concern over the plight of the 49ers, including their inability to get a new stadium. These issues also could affect the television contracts.

One influential team owner said of the 49ers, "I wish they'd be a better team (because) that's an important market for us." The owner of another team said "there is no chance" the Yorks would get a new stadium, said he hoped they would sell the 49ers and said "the whole league would give a collective sigh of relief if that happens."

"There is no chance they're going to get it done, and she's got to wake up and say, 'We're selling the team -- we're taking our money and going home, ' " the second owner said. "Quite frankly, I don't know where her head is at, because other than the fact her husband is enjoying himself and the notoriety of running a football team, everybody's calling him an idiot in the meantime."

On the field, the 49ers -- one of the greatest dynasties in sports through the '80s and early '90s -- are a shadow of the teams that starred Jerry Rice, Joe Montana and Steve Young and were owned by Eddie DeBartolo, Denise DeBartolo York's brother. She took over the franchise when DeBartolo had to step aside because of his involvement in a Louisiana gambling case.

The 49ers' victory last Sunday was their first in five games this season, and prospects for improvement in the near future are dim. One result of more losses than victories could be a decline in attendance. Officially, that has not been the case yet, and the 49ers say every home game this season is sold out. However, there were thousands of empty seats from the outset of Sunday's game at Monster (formerly Candlestick) Park, many more no-shows than were usual in the past.

Local TV stations cannot broadcast home games that are not sold out. Should the 49ers' attendance officially decline, television blackouts of both Bay Area teams are a possibility by next season, which is bad timing because negotiations on new TV contracts are going on. The Raiders already are often blacked out, but the 49ers have not had a home game blacked out since early in the 1981 season.

These problems and potential problems fuel concern among NFL owners. But the Yorks have said they do not plan to sell the 49ers.

"John and Denise were both at the game last week and expressed no desire whatsoever to sell, and never have in the past," Sam Singer, a spokesman for the Yorks, said Friday. "The family is very committed to keeping, owning and running a winning team."

Singer also said the Yorks would "make some public pronouncements about what their plans are for a stadium in San Francisco" sometime after the season ends and before the 2005 season begins.

Although stadium construction often is mostly publicly financed, two of the league's newest stadiums, for the Patriots and Eagles, required owners Robert Kraft and Jeffrey Lurie, respectively, to put up between $300 million and $400 million apiece. The Patriots' stadium, completed in 2002 for about $325 million, was privately financed. Public funds constituted less than half of the cost of the Eagles' new home, completed one season later for about $520 million.

There is no practical way for the league to force an owner to sell; if they could have, other owners would have forced the Raiders' Al Davis out of the league several lawsuits ago.

An NFL source close to Tagliabue, asked to gauge Ellison's degree of interest, said, "He sounds like he is (interested), but he's probably thinking about 12 different things."

Ellison has two characteristics the NFL demands -- he is high-profile, and he has the ability to write a big check. It most likely would take at least $1 billion to get started in Los Angeles.

"Having the stadium is important (in Los Angeles), so having somewhat deep pockets is important," said one owner. "Whether he's the right guy or not, I don't know."

Groups studying four stadium sites in the Los Angeles area are expected to make a preliminary report at a league meeting in Detroit later this month. The league has set a target date of 2008 for a team in Los Angeles, and no decisions are expected before the annual owners meeting next March, at the earliest.

The potential sites are for new facilities in Anaheim or Carson and for remodels of the Rose Bowl and the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Traditionally, the NFL identifies its sites before beginning the process of choosing a team owner. With Los Angeles, there is the added question of whether the league would expand there or move a team, but -- after four teams have been added in the last decade -- there appears to be little support for more expansion.

Although the 32 existing owners would receive an immediate windfall of, say, $30 million apiece in splitting the franchise fee of a Los Angeles expansion team, that money soon would be offset by the additional division of the TV contract. Further, a 33rd team would destroy the balance the league finally achieved in 2002 -- eight divisions of four teams apiece with the teams within each division playing nearly identical schedules.

The Minnesota Vikings are the only team known to be on the market and, along with New Orleans, San Francisco, Indianapolis and San Diego, are one of five teams with significant stadium problems.

One NFL owner suggested the possibility of a solution similar to the one baseball reached with Montreal, with the league buying an existing team and selling the ownership to a group in Los Angeles.

"I just don't think it works if we relocate (an existing owner) to Los Angeles," he said. "I don't think it will be well-received in that particular market. And that market is so fragmented; anyway, you need some strong personalities from that area to pull it together."

Ellison, although he lives in Woodside, and his business headquarters are on the Peninsula, also has considerable real estate interests in the Los Angeles area. Tagliabue and other officials have talked to other potential owners about the Los Angeles situation, too, although it's not known whether any of them also have Bay Area ties.

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Originally posted by NorthNiner:
Originally posted by 9erB4Us:
@ fortyninerglory

I've read an online article almost just like the one you put on this thread, but the NFL officals were named. It seems like some of the other NFL ownerships were concerned about the 49ers becoming an non-elite team, due to their losing ways under the York ownership, and they addressed this to Rodger Goodell. Rodger Goodell, and Carmen Policy got together with Larry Ellison over dinner to discuss the possibility of him buying the 49er Franchise.

Commissioner Rodger Goodell also discussed the issue over with John York, and told him, that if the 49ers did not change from being a losing Franchise, the Yorks should consider selling the team.

All this information is available on Google.

It would be great if Rodger Goodell renewed his concerns about York ownership, instead of his concerns about two helmets making contact.

it's not up to Goodell to save us from ourselves.... the problem starts with every fan that has ever accepted, or attempted to justify, the york's existence as our owners.... everybody is all fed up now.... but where were they when we were laying the foundation for change back in the day?.... where were they when it was time to actually fight?.... I'll tell you where.... they were hiding under their beds.... scared.... and making excuses.... afraid to strap on the armor and do what was needed....