how many NFL owners inherited either their fortune or the team (or both)

All quoted material (ie. the bio material) is from here: https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2020-07-17/nfl-billionaire-team-owners-who-rule-sports-united-states

—

Note: As most know, Green Bay does not have an owner. Officially, the Packers are owned by hundreds of thousands of public shareholders. A not-for-profit organization, the Green Bay Packers, Inc., hosted stock sales in 1923, 1935, 1950, 1997 and 2011. According to the team’s website, 361,311 people own 5,009,518 Packer shares. Fans don’t earn money for their investments in the team. The franchise is governed by a seven-member executive committee

So how many of the remaining 31 teams have owners who inherited the team and/or their wealth? It’s 17.

—

Arizona. Michael Bidwell. The Cardinals are the family business. Grandfather Charles Bidwill, a Chicago attorney, bought the team in 1932. Son William Bidwill was the owner until his death last October. He moved the franchise from St. Louis to Arizona in 1988. Michael has been chairman since 2007.

Chicago. Chairman/CEO: Virginia Halas McCaskey. The McCaskey family wealth came from operating the Bears for a century. Virginia’s late father, George Halas, bought the team three years before she was born.

Cincinnati. Chairman/CEO: Mike Brown. Brown’s father, Paul, helped found the Bengals. Paul Brown eventually became coach and general manager of the team and had autonomy over the football and business operations. Over time, the family bought a majority interest in the franchise.

Denver. Chairman/CEO: The Pat Bowlen Trust, Joe Ellis. Pat Bowlen’s father, Paul, was a millionaire in the Canadian oil business. Pat had a successful law practice in Edmonton and also worked as an executive for his father’s company, Regent Drilling, and as a real estate developer. Pat Bowlen officially relinquished control of the franchise to team president Joe Ellis in 2014. Bowlen died five years later. It is believed that Bowlen’s daughter Brittany eventually will assume the role of controlling owner.

Detroit. Chairman/CEO: Sheila Ford Hamp. Ford Hamp took over as principal owner in June after her 94-year-old mother, Martha Firestone Ford, stepped down after leading the organization for six seasons. Firestone Ford inherited the team when her husband, William Clay Ford, died in March 2014. Hamp Ford has attended league meetings with her mother and had been a sounding board on key organizational decisions.

Houston. Chairman/CEO: Janice McNair. McNair’s husband, Bob, was the Texans’ original owner when he was awarded an expansion franchise in 1999. She inherited the team after he died in November of 2018.

Indianapolis. Chairman/CEO: Jim Irsay. Jim Irsay inherited the franchise — and his money — from his father, Robert, who died in 1997.

Kansas City. Chairman/CEO: Clark Hunt. Clark Hunt is the son of Lamar Hunt, who was one of wealthy oil baron H.L. Hunt’s 14 children. Lamar Hunt helped launch the American Football League and founded the Dallas Texans, who won the 1962 AFL title and then moved to Kansas City and became the Chiefs.

Las Vegas. Chairman/CEO: Mark Davis. Al Davis, Mark’s father, was an assistant coach at USC and with the Chargers before becoming a player personnel assistant, a head coach, a general manager, the AFL commissioner and then eventually owner of the Raiders.

LA Chargers. Chairman/CEO: Dean Spanos. In 1960, Dean’s father, Alex, founded AG Spanos Companies and would become one of the most prominent apartment developers in the country. The company remains among America’s largest family-owned businesses. Alex Spanos purchased majority interest in the team in 1984. Dean Spanos was named team president and chief executive officer of the Chargers in early 1994.

New Orleans. Gayle Benson. Benson spent more than 30 years working in the interior design business. She married Tom Benson, a businessman and owner of multiple car dealerships, in 2004, to become his third wife. She inherited the Saints and the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans in 2018 after Tom died.

New York Giants. Chairman/CEO: John Mara/Steven Tisch. ara, a former labor lawyer, is the grandson of original team investor Timothy Mara and the oldest son of Wellington Mara. Tisch, a successful movie producer, is a son of Bob Tisch, co-founder of the Loews Corp, which bought a 50% stake in the team in 1991.

New York Jets. Chairman/CEO: Christopher Johnson. Johnson is an heir to the Johnson & Johnson empire. His great-grandfather founded the company and his grandfather grew it into a global icon. Christopher Johnson assumed control of the Jets when his brother Woody became the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Pittsburgh. Chairman/CEO: Art Rooney II.Art Rooney II’s grandfather, Art Rooney Sr., founded the Steelers — as the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 10-team NFL in 1933 — and grew the operation into a financial empire as franchise values swelled over several decades.

San Francisco. Chairman/CEO: Denise DeBartolo York, John York. Denise is the granddaughter of Edward DeBartolo Sr., an Ohio-based construction magnate and commercial real estate developer who purchased the team. She is the sister of Edward DeBartolo Jr. She took control of the team in 2001 in the wake of her brother’s legal troubles. She married John York, a pathologist, in 1978.

Seattle. Chairman/CEO: Jody Allen. Paul Allen, who died in 2018, co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates. He also owned the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers and was part owner of the MLS’s Seattle Sounders. His sister Jody chairs the Seahawks and the Trail Blazers and also philanthropy-centered Vulcan Inc.

Tennessee. Chairman/CEO: Amy Adams Strunk. Adams Strunk’s father, Bud, was one of the founders of the AFL and the Titans franchise, which started as the Houston Oilers. Bud Adams made his money in the petroleum business. Adams Strunk inherited the team after her father died in 2013.