Questions On Giants' Ownership

With all the bantering and anger with the Mara ownership, understanding the equity ownership of the team could be revealing and explain why there is no change in ownership. We all know that Tim Mara, a bookie bought the team for $500 (I read years ago, the team was payment for a loss on a bet — yet it seems the media has removed that information). He passed control of the team to Jack and Wellington at 50% each. When Jack died, his equity went to his children with Tim Mara having control. I bring up the subject of control because I suspect that all the equity in the Giants is not of the same class of ownership. I have read that Wellington had dozens of children/ grandchildren — yet John Mara has 5% with what it appears to be all the voting rights. This is important. My next question is did the Tisch family get complete voting control of the remaining 50% that they bought from Tim Mara — or are they relegated to a lower class of ownership or with limited voting rights? As someone who has recruited lots of private equity, I have seen T&Cs which limited voting rights in numerous ways effectively subordinating some owners to limited to no control; effectively focusing their “interests” in getting capital appreciation and money. This would be consistent with the Tisch’s relatively silent interest in the team and focus on the financial management of the team at the Board of Director’s level. I wonder if as part of the sale by Tim Mara, that the NFL (Commissioner) didn’t want a repeat of the feud that Wellington and Tim had and as one condition of the sale, insisted that the ownership be subordinated in this fashion (of course the price of the sale would be adversely impacted by the Tisch family to offset this type of term and condition). I would not be surprised that all equity owners are bound by confidentiality agreements that could be punitive financially if they speak/ criticize openly the team, its operations, its management or its ownership.

So, the net-net is I do not anticipate we will hear much from the Tisch family other than the typical PR statement. And this applies to the Mara family as well. I suggest that John Mara effectively has control of the team. The only recourse at the BoD level is for the Tisch family to privately criticize the team’s situation and make recommendations at a strategic level — including possibly buying the team completely. I doubt they would do that. Therefore, we, the NY Giants fans are stuck in limbo because with all the money continually growing and coming in from PSL, seats, concessions, accessories/ licensed products/ goods and ironically from gambling (right-to-us of the emblems and names of the teams by sports gamblers worldwide), the ownership is a behemoth that is disinterested in change. Remember, Pete Rozelle, thank God, had to intervene to save this organization. Goodell will not; unless the media and fan base revolt en masse. Even then, change may be problematic.

Anyway, that is my take. The more things change — for the worse, the more things remain the same.