He is the appointed CEO who also owns a pretty small minority ownership % and sits on the franchises Board of Directors. The Giants are a 50/50 joint venture in which one half is owned by the Tisch siblings, who are far richer and more powerful than the Mara clan. I understand that a CEO will weigh in on certain decisions - that’s conventional - while leaving most decisions to qualified professionals. John Mara’s actions are consistent with a CEO role, but that role was granted to him as an act of nepotism. He’s a nepo baby.
Mara acts as a CEO, not an owner, and reports to the Giants’ Board, of which he is a member. The board has 9 members, 4 of whom appear to be appointed by Tisch and 5 by the Maras. I say apparently because information about one of the board members, Nicole Covello, is hard to come by. That’s the formal structure. Informally, the Tisches have other things to worry about, though the Giants represent a significant part of their net worth, and the Maras are more focused on the franchise. In what looks like a compromise between the 50/50 partners, Steve Tisch serves as the Board Chairman, while Mara is the CEO. Tisch is 75 and if he dies power may devolve to Jonathan Tisch, his brother, age 70, who serves as the Board Treasurer. The people overseeing this organization are old and given the solid business footing of NFL franchises, that makes for a lot of inertia. But it wouldn’t be surprising if the Board saw a lot of turnover in the next decade. It’s worth mentioning that Jonathan Tisch is a real businessman, he was CEO of Loews, a publicly traded firm, until last year, while Larry is a film producer. Their sister, Laurie Tisch, also serves on the Board and is 73, and doesn’t appear to be a career woman. (Note that one of her daughters appears to be a real executive.) All the Tisches are billionaires, so these people are seriously rich.
Nepotism and nepotism babies are spread across the Giants organization very thoroughly. One question I have been wondering is why Tim McDonnell would be viewed as the CEO heir apparent. Why not hire a veteran sports executive as the next Giants CEO? Both sets of families are used to treating businesses as family ventures. For example, Jonathan Tisch stepped aside as CEO of Loews, a publicly traded company, and his son Alex succeeded him.
Why hasn’t Mara been fired? Because the Giants are profitable, have a board majority and exist in a monopoly setting in which even an incompetent fool like him can lead the Giants organization. The situation is different from, say, the Panthers where an incompetent 100% owner David Tepper and his wife Caroline, the Panthers’ Chief Administrative Officer, have total control. The Giants org structure shows signs of a very political, negotiated arrangement.
The other thing that jumps out is that the Tisch family is embedded in the hospitality industry. That’s why they are rich. Loews isn’t an enormous company but it is sizable and the Tisch family has a lot of investments in addition to it. So we fans look at the Giants from the lens of a team, but the Tisches likely have a different perspective, viewing it as an entertainment venue. It’s possible that the “sub optimal” Met Life as a venue may be more pressing to the Tisches than the teams losing record.
My takeaways:
- Both sets of owners are used to treating their companies as family ventures.
- The management structure of the franchise is negotiated in a complex web. The situation is now stable but complex webs are unstable and can change.
- None of the principal players has firmly demonstrated competence and ability, although it’s possible that Jonathan Tisch is an accomplished businessman and leader.
- Jonathan is now quasi retired and may now play a bigger role in the Giants than when he was running his business. That’s something to watch for.
- The Board is old. We could see significant turnover there or the current membership could persist for a decade or two.
You can bitch all you want but that that is the way its going to stay for awhile.
The Giants are in this predicament because they have drafted poorly and more importantly not developed their own players.
You can bitch all you want but that that is the way its going to stay for awhile.
The Giants are in this predicament because they have drafted poorly and more importantly not developed their own players.
Good post!
Bitching about your favorite teams ownership is like pissing and moaning about the brand of car you choose to drive. This team has been the possession of the Mara family since 1925. It aint going to change nor should it. If you hate John Mara so much go root for another team. The guy, by all accounts sounds like a tremendous person to work for.
You can bitch all you want but that that is the way its going to stay for awhile.
The Giants are in this predicament because they have drafted poorly and more importantly not developed their own players.
I think that's what people are going to start doing. Speaking for myself, I watch them more out of inertia than I do out of being a fan, and I don't suffer each loss the way I used to; I just lament not enjoying them anymore. It used to be a lot of fun. I want that back, which is the reason I keep coming back, but it's fading.
The people running the team some seem that bothered with trying to win, so why should I care?
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I suggest most people on this board think about changing teams. The Maras started the Giants and the are the majority owners.
You can bitch all you want but that that is the way its going to stay for awhile.
The Giants are in this predicament because they have drafted poorly and more importantly not developed their own players.
Good post!
Bitching about your favorite teams ownership is like pissing and moaning about the brand of car you choose to drive. This team has been the possession of the Mara family since 1925. It aint going to change nor should it. If you hate John Mara so much go root for another team. The guy, by all accounts sounds like a tremendous person to work for.
This post shows a stunning lack of awareness about how fandom works. When the team you grew up loving is making the same mistakes over and over again, it is natural to get frustrated with those situations and complain about them. Nobody on here has ever seriously suggested the Maras and Tiches sell the team - they complain about John Mara’s terrible football instincts being a large factor in decisions. Full stop.
Saying “go route for another team” is like telling people if their preferred political candidate loses an election, they should move to another country. It’s a 5 year old’s understanding of the world.
the giants situation isnt the best in pro sports but it's a lot farther from the worst than vice versa.
imo its generally a dumb thing to focus on unless you have a time machine that can take you back to 1925. owners do what they want with the things they own. the maras are weak owners but there are a lot worse things they could be. just w/ ny sports in the last couple decades you could describe many of their peers with far worse adjectives like micromanaging, ego maniacal, rotten, cheap, racist, incompetent and all the way through to literally criminal.
they are good people who run a respected organization that cares about it's fans, they just happen to be just as shitty at hiring competent football people as everyone else.
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I suggest most people on this board think about changing teams. The Maras started the Giants and the are the majority owners.
You can bitch all you want but that that is the way its going to stay for awhile.
The Giants are in this predicament because they have drafted poorly and more importantly not developed their own players.
Good post!
Bitching about your favorite teams ownership is like pissing and moaning about the brand of car you choose to drive. This team has been the possession of the Mara family since 1925. It aint going to change nor should it. If you hate John Mara so much go root for another team. The guy, by all accounts sounds like a tremendous person to work for.
No you are both wrong. You choose the brand of car you drive most of us are born into this. Should I have told my Dad when I went to my first game when I was 5 that I was going to pass on this whole Giants fan thing?
It is you who should grow thicker skin about the complaints. You aren’t a better fan because you aren’t grossed out by what the Mara’s are doing. You are just an ignorant sycophant.
Newsflash, public figures get criticized. Especially when their performance is bad. You people seem to be the ones that need to wake up and understand how the world works and maybe stay away from the internet. Because it will be chock full of Giants critiques until the Mara’s get a clue
But I imagine the Mara’s would sell themselves on it turning around year after year. But if it got bad enough financially the Tisch family would push pretty hard for a change. But if they are outvoted on the board I think we are pretty f’ed indefinitely.
Even if it got bad enough that the Mara’s selected a new CEO after John retires I can’t see Timmy not exerted the same brand of pressure on whoever is making the decisions.
They don’t see themselves as a problem and if they haven’t realized that yet I just don’t know what they’d need to see to realize it.
With that said, I still have hope for Schoen & Daboll and think Daboll is a good coach.
I tend to agree with Eric, we can over complicate ownership. The bottom line he hasn't hired strong personalities with winning track records since Coughlin.
what you guys dont realize is how stupid a fallacy this is. the waltons had Condoleezza Rice (obviously no football background whatsoever) interviewing sean payton. some teams have literally outsourced coaching process to firms like korn ferry (https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2019/01/07/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/NFL.aspx).
who is this heroic unicorn CEO out there so well equipped to judge the expertise of NFL coaches or GMs? who are the ones already employed by other teams that the giants should be emulating?
i doubt anyone has answers to those questions because i doubt those answers exist. thats why even a pretty mediocre GM like ernie accorsi was a consultant in hiring processes for like half a dozen different teams. and why a genius business man in david tepper wasted $50m+ on matt rhule. and why someone proven like sean payton commanded $100m+. it is not easy to find good football coaches/gms despite extreme demand because there is a supply problem.
you could make Tim cook or whoever you want CEO of the giants, it's not going to change the fact that the odds of finding top head coaches/gms is somewhere between 10-20%. you couldnt find an owner smarter in business or more willing to spend than steve cohen and he had to wait 3 years just to be able to get the chance to speak to no less hire the most expensive president of baseball opps in the sport to run his franchise (with 3 failed hires in between).
With that said, I still have hope for Schoen & Daboll and think Daboll is a good coach.
I tend to agree with Eric, we can over complicate ownership. The bottom line he hasn't hired strong personalities with winning track records since Coughlin.
i dont think "there will come a point" i think that point has always been there.
at the start of the century/modern era it was ernie and he was middling. middling results followed.
i think it was wellington that basically forced ernie and john to hire coughlin, and he with his winning track record came the only extended winning. i believe EA was quoted as saying coughlins interview was terrible and he wouldnt have hired him otherwise.
post coughlin it pivoted to reese who failed with mcadoo.
then it pivoted to gettleman who failed 6 ways from sunday.
now it's schoen, who brought with him daboll. if that doesnt work it will be someone new and the odds will remain long.
this is why in pretty much every coaching search since mcadoo my preference has been harbough. and if daboll doesnt work out i agree, belichick and/or vrabel would be my first calls.
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I suggest most people on this board think about changing teams. The Maras started the Giants and the are the majority owners.
You can bitch all you want but that that is the way its going to stay for awhile.
The Giants are in this predicament because they have drafted poorly and more importantly not developed their own players.
I think that's what people are going to start doing. Speaking for myself, I watch them more out of inertia than I do out of being a fan, and I don't suffer each loss the way I used to; I just lament not enjoying them anymore. It used to be a lot of fun. I want that back, which is the reason I keep coming back, but it's fading.
The people running the team some seem that bothered with trying to win, so why should I care?
Wont see too many tears around here that's for sure.
With that said, I still have hope for Schoen & Daboll and think Daboll is a good coach.
I tend to agree with Eric, we can over complicate ownership. The bottom line he hasn't hired strong personalities with winning track records since Coughlin.
Holy crap Belichick? Last thing any football team needs. He'd be an unmitigated disaster. He destroyed the Patriots in the last few years.
And the CEO can be benevolent in the way he handles employees (staff, players and coaches) or he can be a tyrant. Only the profit really matters, but if he doesn’t handle employees well, that will get around and costs will rise to where costs start to eat profits,
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In comment 16556574 seanr said:
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I suggest most people on this board think about changing teams. The Maras started the Giants and the are the majority owners.
You can bitch all you want but that that is the way its going to stay for awhile.
The Giants are in this predicament because they have drafted poorly and more importantly not developed their own players.
I think that's what people are going to start doing. Speaking for myself, I watch them more out of inertia than I do out of being a fan, and I don't suffer each loss the way I used to; I just lament not enjoying them anymore. It used to be a lot of fun. I want that back, which is the reason I keep coming back, but it's fading.
The people running the team some seem that bothered with trying to win, so why should I care?
Wont see too many tears around here that's for sure.
People love their echo chambers. Reality be damned.
The reason Tim McDonnell is theoretically being "groomed" to take over is, he's Wellington's grand son, but more than that,
he cut his teeth working in OTHER organizations, learning the foot ball personnel business.
Unlike John, who knows squat, this guy actually has a clue.
And John is NOT going to name a non Mara as his successor, so forget that notion.
You can bitch all you want but that that is the way its going to stay for awhile.
The Giants are in this predicament because they have drafted poorly and more importantly not developed their own players.
We've been one of the worst organizations in the NFL for the last decade+. Exempting ownership from criticism is laughable.
You can bitch all you want but that that is the way its going to stay for awhile.
The Giants are in this predicament because they have drafted poorly and more importantly not developed their own players.
And because the owner/CEO sucks at his job. But let’s not let facts get in the way.
Actually it is quite the oppostie we are much closer to the worst. The BROWNS have more wins in the last 10 years than the Giants. The only worse are the Jags and Jets. And that is an even worse reflection on the Giants because at least they were starting from place of prestege and a better pitch to GMs and coaches for that reason.
The way you are describing coaches and GMs are as if everybody is just guessing until you get one of the elite ones. But that suggestion is so alarmingly devoid of accountability it is amazing that it was formed into an argument.
Mara doesn't bear responsibility as a bad owner for firing our last 2X winning Super Bowl coach and proceeding to pick 3 dud GMs/coaches?
It actually looks like we have a great coach now who managed to string together a hell of a half season before that blew up. And we gave way too much credit and money to a QB that only has ever looked good when a coach can gameplan around him. And both times it had a shelf life.
What you are failing to aknowledge is that no matter how bad some people here want it to be true football is just another business. You have a small group of elite performers and a whole lot of good/average/bad ones.
If you are saying that we need one of the elite ones to win then you are actually admitting we have bad leadership.
Good leaders find ways to elevate good and average performers. Bad leaders make them look worse. There are plenty of teams above us in the win rankings the last 10 years that do this.
It is clear that our leaders make people worse.
You are missing a lot of nuance in your quite frankly inaccurate statement that we are closer to better owners than worse.
The reason Tim McDonnell is theoretically being "groomed" to take over is, he's Wellington's grand son, but more than that,
he cut his teeth working in OTHER organizations, learning the foot ball personnel business.
Unlike John, who knows squat, this guy actually has a clue.
And John is NOT going to name a non Mara as his successor, so forget that notion.
What exactly is the basis for saying Tim McDonnell has a clue?
He actually asked what their offensive identity would be after losing Barkley. After paying a QB $40M and drafting an elite WR #6, adding to a group of a 2nd round and 3rd round pick the year before as well as a receiver who has gone over 700 yards the last two years.
Is that really something a smart person says?
Thank you!
The questioning is over - and has been frankly since the day he made Kevin Gilbride a scapegoat for Mara's complete mismanagement of personnel development after Super Bowl LVI. That was followed by the scapegoating of future Hall of Fame coach Tom Coughlin and believing that Ben McAdoo, a guy who never played competitive football and whose only claim to fame was being Aaron Rodgers' coach, something my nine year old nephew could have been successful doing, was a logical solution. At which point, it was clear as day we needed this generation's version of George Young to take over football operations. But instead, Mara simply made bad decision after bad decision, from Gettleman to Schurmur to Judge, etc., trying desperately to recover from the original sin which persists to this day: Mara's inability to develop an NFL championship calibre roster starting with a quality modern NFL quarterback.
Will this change? Schoen seems to have now figured all of this out in his third year and appears to be now pushing back hard against Mara's unrelenting passive aggression for an utterly misguided agenda. Unfortunately, Schoen has learned this only after caving to Mara and making one of the worst decisions in this franchise's history in that DJ contract. Will Mara now hold him responsible if Barkley has a great year for the Eagles? Can Schoen survive this if he does? Can Daboll, who appears to be a really good young head coach, survive another bottom five finish especially if it is because he can't get Mara's "full bloom love quarterback" to be successful? In the myopic world of denial and relentless scapegoating, very unlikely.
Time will tell.
As far as John Mara goes, I don't listen to a word he says. He quickly lost faith in Ben McAdoo. And then, just as quickly, was charmed by the Bullshit Artist Joe Judge, perhaps the worst coaching hire in NFL History.
The current Maras should be content to consign themselves to counting the profits from the Pepsi Pouring Rights.
Let the true professionals run the Football Operations.
As far as John Mara goes, I don't listen to a word he says. He quickly lost faith in Ben McAdoo. And then, just as quickly, was charmed by the Bullshit Artist Joe Judge, perhaps the worst coaching hire in NFL History.
The current Maras should be content to consign themselves to counting the profits from the Pepsi Pouring Rights.
Let the true professionals run the Football Operations.
And it appears that they are
If the grandson earns his time learning that is no different than any other person learning their trade. How do all these other people become football people - they learn
Another NFL owner is not going to hire a relative of their competitor especially one linked to likely ascending to run the team
The only chance a relative has of learning the trade is with the team the family owns
If the grandson earns his time learning that is no different than any other person learning their trade. How do all these other people become football people - they learn
Another NFL owner is not going to hire a relative of their competitor especially one linked to likely ascending to run the team
The only chance a relative has of learning the trade is with the team the family owns
The issue is when ownership (or CEO) feels they must hire a family member.
This practice potentially eliminates many more qualified candidates not named Mara.
The pivot to Reese was before some think. TC started receiving short term contracts after 2010 which continued until he was let go. The drafts and other decisions show Reese driving the decisions. Gilbride was the first casualty as Ross gets promoted. Mara didn't think it was a front office problem. That was the big problem.
Giants have still not recovered and it is a big TBD if they have the right people in place.
The firewall seems to be Steve Tisch. Reportedly, he stepped in and stopped Mara from keeping Judge for a third year. So, if you believe that, he can be real check and balance to the Maras. And really be instrumental in getting this organization back on track.
If Schoen fails, Steve needs to break glass because it's an emergency...
Schoen can concentrate on the on-field product unencumbered and Mara can concentrate on operations and his league relationships, which is probably his biggest strength.
Stupidity has no limits..
I don’t find the management structure of the Giants as compelling either but it’s certainly worth knowing, as I know you are a deep dyed fan, how the structure is currently arranged.
The anti-Mara agenda on this website is not only ignorant its just annoying at this point. BBI sucks now with how many stupid posts like this come out. Whiney, bitchy, know it all group think. Take it to Twitter.
It's a football team. Root for the laundry or don't but enough with this shit!
You are missing a lot of nuance in your quite frankly inaccurate statement that we are closer to better owners than worse.
and like your new handles your statements pretend the past that doesnt suit your shitty arguments never happened.
john mara was COO from the 90's to 2005 when he became CEO. kind of stupid to focus only on one decade of his time in the job when he has 2. his father were the driving force behind hiring Coughlin but at the time he was obviously not able to fully run the organization, so it was likely John who saw to that happening. They both obviously allowed Accorsi to make the trade for Eli. One of his first big hiring decisions was promoting Jerry Reese to Gm. how did that go?
his even more important unpopular decision was correctly choosing to not "fire coughlin" more than once before SB42 when all of the over reactionary geniuses with no concept of how hard it is to actually find good coaches (like you) wanted him gone even after winning seasons.
if you want to knock all of his decisions in the post-Couglin/Reese world that's fair because they've sucked. If you want to pretend the guy is on the level of woody johnson, or dan snyder, or the jerry richardson, or the wilponzis, or james dolan or donald sterling whoever anyone who in reality would be considered the actual worst owners in sports then you need to turn in any fond memories you may have accrued prior with SB 42/46.
And agree with all saying no fucking way with Belichick. It's passed him by. The time to hire him was in 1991.
They do that too.
Unless I am reading your post incorrectly
Where did you get that the Board is making draft picks?
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You are missing a lot of nuance in your quite frankly inaccurate statement that we are closer to better owners than worse.
and like your new handles your statements pretend the past that doesnt suit your shitty arguments never happened.
john mara was COO from the 90's to 2005 when he became CEO. kind of stupid to focus only on one decade of his time in the job when he has 2. his father were the driving force behind hiring Coughlin but at the time he was obviously not able to fully run the organization, so it was likely John who saw to that happening. They both obviously allowed Accorsi to make the trade for Eli. One of his first big hiring decisions was promoting Jerry Reese to Gm. how did that go?
his even more important unpopular decision was correctly choosing to not "fire coughlin" more than once before SB42 when all of the over reactionary geniuses with no concept of how hard it is to actually find good coaches (like you) wanted him gone even after winning seasons.
if you want to knock all of his decisions in the post-Couglin/Reese world that's fair because they've sucked. If you want to pretend the guy is on the level of woody johnson, or dan snyder, or the jerry richardson, or the wilponzis, or james dolan or donald sterling whoever anyone who in reality would be considered the actual worst owners in sports then you need to turn in any fond memories you may have accrued prior with SB 42/46.
Jesus, why are you so obsessed with the idea that someone disagreeing with you needs to have some kind of history? Maybe your points are just bad?
Such as the point that you made that the Giants owners were closer to the best than the worst. Their record shows they are closer to Woody Johnson than a good owner. The only pretending taking place is that we should ignore that record because you like them or something.
The onus is on you to prove that they are closer to the better owners, my argument is supported.