At first it seems odd, or ludicrous, or even unconstitutional to require and NFL owner to devote his time and resources to the team he owns.
After all, when you own a car, there are no laws that state how often you must wax it. If you own a TV, there are no laws about what channel you watch.
However, the NFL operates in a longstanding bubble, where seemingly illegal labor laws are the norm.
For example, you and I get to work wherever we want. But an NFL rookie MUST work for the team that drafts him. If I graduate high school and someone wants to hire me, then great! I got myself a job. But in the NFL, you are prohibited from being hired until you wait at least three years after high school. In the United States, that is called age discrimination. In the NFL, it’s called “Eligibility Rules.”
You wake up with a headache, but you go to work because you have some important things on your plate. That’s cool. It’s your choice. But in the NFL, bump your head and they prohibit you from going to work unless 47 doctors examine your brain and clear you for concussion protocol. Go ahead and tell the doctor, “This is the biggest game of the year, and I need to be out there. I feel fine.” Useless! The NFL determines what you need, not you yourself.
Anyway, those are just a few examples of how the NFL oversteps the norms of labor laws by forming its own rules and regulations, so maybe my idea of requiring owners to be invested in their teams isn’t too far fetched. This is nothing new to my regular readers. For several years, I’ve pointed out the long litany of NON-Dolphin endeavors that Stephen Ross subjects us to. An ever-growing list of non-Dolphin activities that he devotes his resources to, each one to the detriment of the Dolphins.
So when the Miami Herald was so excited in a recent article about Ross’s soccer venture, I found it laughable.
To me, it comes down to the same old questions. Can you name me one non-Cowboy venture that Jerry Jones gets involved in? How about naming what business Robert Kraft is in other than the Patriots? Eagles owner Jeff Lurie? The Steinbrenner dynasty?
These successful owners devote themselves solely to the development of their beloved teams, while Stephen Ross devotes himself to…well, let’s see:
- Soccer
- Courting J-Lo to buy a part of the Dolphins to promote diversity
- Building an awning for the stadium
- Courting Venus and Serena Williams to buy a part of the Dolphins to promote diversity
- Anti-bullying
- Courting Gloria Estefan to buy a part of the Dolphins to promote diversity
- Giving away home games to instead play in Europe
- Promoting the university of Michigan, and donating millions to their team
- Tennis tournaments
- Maintaining his residence in New York, 1,300 miles away
- Changing the logo and colors of the team
- Organizing “open talks” with the guys who refuse to stand for the National Anthem
The man devotes an incredibly inordinate amount of time to trying to appear p.c. and trying to do the right thing with the public in general. Imagine if he spent that time devoted to winning.
Instead of taking business meetings in New York, for example, imagine if he burst into Adam Gase’s office now and then to demand that Gase run a QB sneak on third-and-inches now and then. Us fans cannot make him give up his frivolous pursuit of being King of the City of Miami While Living in New York. However, it’s my pipe dream that the NFL does make him give up. Force him to make the MIAMI DOLPHINS his passion and his one and only business interest. Not Tennis. Not Europe. Not made-up bullies.
The main point of all of this would be to REQUIRE, by NFL bylaws, that the owner be engaged in his team. It would require that the owner live in the same community as his team. Not much to ask, is it ? It would demand that the owner be involved.
The goal would be to dis-allow any owner from buying a team strictly for business reasons. Strictly for clout. Strictly to join the fraternity of other owners.
Ughhhh, I decided to take a peek from a long hiatus to see this dribble? I’m sorry, but I strongly disagree with your poor assessment, Ross is one of the best owners and does everything he can to give us the best team year after year.
When he came in, did he not try to sway Harbaugh to come to Miami? Sure, it was messed up the way he did it but come on, would you really have wanted useless fist pumping Sporano who was given all the resources in the world and couldn’t do anything with it except replay on a gimmick play that the Jets ran better than we did after 2008? Sporano was trash and a poor head coach who got caught with his pants down one too many times.
Whats wrong with diversity? Get the fans excited again and back in the stadium, that is called smart marketing my friend, especially when you consider the Latin population is a dominant one in South Florida.
Yes, using his OWN money to upgrade the stadium after the city reneged on their word to build the Dolphins a new stadium, an upgrade or a new stadium is what the NFL was demanding from the Dolphins if Miami wanted host anymore SBs because the NFL’s bs claims that fans were drenched during the Colts Bears SB and they wouldn’t want “fans” to be in that position again – yet that SAME YEAR they spew that BS they award NY/NJ with a SB – during a time when the northeast is usually dealings in blizzards and snow storms. The NFL was massively lucky that game conditions were like the fall on THAT Sunday because the very next day a snow storm hit and that would have made it the ugliest SB in history with “fans” freezing their asses off. So yes, the awning was a necessity to get any future consideration for SB, which help the city and the community – again, not a bad thing – that is smart business.
Again, is diversity such a bad thing? I didn’t realize this was the KKK Dolphins.
Again, the NFL (you should know this if you actually do your homework, everything I am saying is fact and not made up BS) told Ross that his chances of getting a SB would be better if they played in Europe – again, this is smart business – what’s ONE game, why is it really hurting? This is a non issue.
Ross is an alum who feels he owes his success to where he was educated and donates his OWN personal wealth like MANY other entrepreneurs around the world – believe it or not this is common practice and again, this is his own personal life and money – who are you to call him out on it? That’s like me calling you out for giving a dollar to a child trying to raise money for his basketball or football team – just plain silly.
Why does it matter where he lives? He is the OWNER of the team, not the president of football operations. Plus he is at EVERY game, so him having his main residence in NY where he conducts business and RUNS his companies is a necessity – again, another silly and useless point on your behalf.
Logo and uniform change – first off, a lot of teams did it when Nike too over as the exclusive uniform provider for the NFL. I’ll admit, at first I didn’t like the logo or the colors, I got use to the cartoony Dolphin logo and I liked the darker colors but after sitting back and thinking about it, I embraced it because it is a modern take on the original colors and logo. If it needs to be explained to you how then I don’t know what to tell you because it’s extremely obvious.
And of course the hot button topic of the NFL. God forbid Ross act like a dickheaded tyrant like Jerry Jones, Ross loves his players and wants them to be comfortable in expressing themselves and also try and help with what they are trying to accomplish. Communicating is the only to compromise and find a solution for to a problem for everyone involved – again, this is a good thing and a silly useless point on your behalf.
The only thing I will knock Ross for is not having the balls to mandate signing Kaepernick this past season instead of that lazy talent-less piece of shit Jay Cutler – as soon as they announced the signing I knew the season was over – anyone who followed Cutler throughout his career knew too – only morons thought otherwise. And please, don’t give me any of that nonsense that the season started in 4 weeks and Cutler knew the system because back in 2008 the season started the next week and we signed Chad Pennington and he became the starter.
Your arguments why Ross shouldn’t be an owner are weak and silly at best. Ross does all that he can for the team from a financial and business standpoint – he leaves the football side to more capable minds- Tell me how were the Raiders doing when Al Davis would barge into the coaches meeting mid week and tell them to scrap whatever game plan they had an to run what he planned – NOBODY WANTED TO BE A RAIDER and they were the doormat of the NFL, after he died the meddling and culture has changed for the better. Make no mistake, no coach or coaching staff wants to be undermined like that and no owner outside of Al Davis does things like that. You think Bob Kraft or the Mara family does things like that??! If you do then you have NO idea what you are talking about and have a really warped sense of how the NFL operates.
Rod, I cannot argue with you about Ross spending money. But spending money for the sake of spending money does not bring success. Spending money just so you can say, “Hello, community of Miami. I spend money on your city so I’m a good guy” does not equal success.
When your foundation is cracked but the roof is perfect, guess what? You don’t spend money on the roof. Nor the awnings. Nor the grass. Nor the neighbor’s flooring. Nor the windows of a house in Michigan.
You praise Ross for spending money on peripheral items, but guess what? That foundation is still broken.
Spending money for the sake of spending money? He gave the team a brand new state of the art training facility and provides the latest and most technological ways for his players to be better players – I’m assuming you know none of this since I’m having to point this out to you.
Okay, let me put it this way, do you have a child? You give them clothes, food, a smart phone, maybe a tablet, a video game system, things to make their time enjoyable and to go to school and be perform well, is it your fault if your child brings home a failing report card? Not at all, you’ve given the child everything you can for him/her to be happy and succeed, short of going with them to class (which is just crazy) you have done all that you can to give them all they need and then some.
Ross provides the best atmosphere for his guys and gives them all the tools they need to succeed, they don’t and that can’t be put on his shoulders. You seem to have this delusional idea that an owner is to sit with his team and and game plan with his team and execute plays with his team and if that doesn’t happen he is a poor owner. You do realize what owners actually do right? what their role actually is right? Ross is more involved with his team than most owners are with theirs and definitely gives more than other owners do … maybe if we had say Carolina’s owner you would feel differently and actually appreciate Ross and what he has done and continues to do.
Miami’s Latin population is indeed large, but asking Fergie and J Lo to buy into your team–and then publicizing it as if you just won the the Lotto–brought in 0 (zero) season-ticket holders. You know what brings in Latin fans? The same thing that brings in white fans and black fans and all fans: winning. And making Gloria Estefan’s husband a figurehead owner of your team does not equate to winning.
You don’t know that, no one does except them accounting department in the organization … assuming they keep track of that stuff.
I’m assuming you haven’t noticed all the support for Black Panther … a movie that mianly an all black cast and all black director, producer and writer … do you see the connection? Yes, white people got offended because black people were excited about an all black movie that is actually really good – one of Marvel’s best actually – but the point is that black people went and strongly supported a black product that was made and marketed for black people –
it’s marketing 101. Again, smart business move on Ross’s part, make it all inclusive. Does it equate to wins? NO, but it does equate to revenue for the team which goes towards bringing in FA, team operations, player contracts … you see where I am going with this?
Rod, you ask, “what’s ONE game, why is it really hurting?”
I can only shake my head at such a question. You and Ross both have the same approach to this, and there’s probably not much I can do to convince you how wrong you both are.
Okay, let’s make this real simple for you, would you like to see the Dolphins play a home game in the SB? YES? GREAT, the chances of that happening are GREATLY increased when Miami does what the NFL mandates to them if they want a SB – again, this is common sense and should not be an issue but you seem to love to nitpick.
A home game is a hugely valuable commodity, not to be dismissed with “What’s one game?” There are only 8 precious home games per year. In Week 17, playoff teams fight down to the wire for HOMEfield advantage. Las Vegas oddsmakers typically give 3.5 points to the home team. To give up a precious home game (or more than one under Ross) just so the CITY (that you don’t even live in) can host a SB 5 years from now puts your team at a competitive disadvantage.
What good is home field advantage if your fans don’t show up to support like Miami fans have done? How many times has Ross had to buy hundreds of tickets to avoid blackout so that the fans at home can watch the game for free?
And it is only one per season, don’t paint a false narrative to try and give credibility to you ridiculous view – and no, it isn’t in consecutive seasons either.
And yes, the city that is not his permanent home benefits from this one game, do you know what we call someone like that, who gives to enrich others? A Philanthropist, they are usually deemed as good people and great for society in case you didn’t know.
Oh, this argument … how many times have games been threatened to be blacked out over the last few seasons until Ross came with HIS OWN MONEY to buy those tickets and give them away for free? Answer way too many times. Also, how many times have other teams taken over our home? Again, the answer is one too many times. Playing at home doesn’t mean anything against certain teams because their fans take over your stadium because of little fan support.
So, not only is Ross spending his OWN money so fans can watch from the comfort of their own home and the games NOT be blacked out, but as an answer to deal with sometimes poor attendance, playing overseas actually helps the team in more way than you realize.
Also, a good team will win anywhere, home, away, on the moon, wherever. Miami whooped the Raiders a couple of years ago in London and had Tannehill been healthy and played, there is no doubt they would have beaten the Saints, Jay Cutler is just pure trash and the biggest reason the season was a failure. And let’s not forget Ajayi’s pitiful performance that day either – just another reason in a long list of why shipping Jay out was a GREAT thing for Miami.
Rod …speaking of dribble LOL.
Larry, I can see you bleed with intelligence …
Apparently Rod you have no intelligence at all …how old are you ? 8 …have you been waiting 40 years for a superbowl ….remember the fans pay the bills and all your spewing crap about not getting Kaperdick id ridiculous and don’t get me started that home games don’t matter …put the xbox down and have a intelligent convo.
Oh Larry, how stupid you are … no, I only wait one year for a SB and I do it every year … nitwit. If you are going to try to be cute at least be smart about it.
Now on to the rest of your stupidity. You are a fucking moron, and I really mean that because you took what I said and interpreted the way you wanted so you could come at me with nonsense. So let me be as clear as possible because I can’t dumb myself down any further to relate to you – typically home games do matter but it does not guarantee you a victory and since Miami fans weren’t showing up to games, would it fucking matter if we lost ONE home game for the season? Think with your tiny little brain, fans don’t show up to support the team to the point where Ross has to buy hundreds of tickets to avoid blackouts – would not playing at home for ONE game matter?! When team like the Ravens, Steelers, and Eagles to name a few come to town they take over and takeaway the home field advantage – would not playing ONE game at home really fucking matter??!! The team is better off playing at a neutral site where more than half the fans are cheering for them (because I’m sure your incompetent ass doesn’t know that the Dolphins actually have a HUGE following overseas, they are actually among the top 5 most popular teams so they are going to be supported better over there than they would be at home against say Pittsburgh – but you definitely aren’t smart enough to understand common sense like that). So we lose 1 game guarantee a shot at playing a home game in a SB, why not do it, especialy if it isn’t a yearly thing – oh wait, did your retarded ass think it was a yearly thing, i’m sorry you are a window licker.
As for Kaep … well, you’ve already proven how dumb you are with your previous comments, explaining to you why Kaep would have been a far better choice than Cutler would be a waste of time because you are far too dense to comprehend all the info and facts I would throw at you.
Oh, and by the way, Xbox sucks.
Whatever hot Rod …you know everything ..but no common scense …I don’t think that kind of language is permitted on this site …go back and crawl back under the rock you came from .
Just to be clear, I figure we’re all adults, so insults and cursing is fine by me for this site.
The only time I butt in is if it’s out of hand.
Highlights of Rod’s comments:
7 home games are better than 8.
Damien Williams is better than Jay Ajayi.
Short sided views of Author
1 – It’s just 1 season
2 – Knows nothing about the players and team he dedicates his time to
=D
The best part of your website is that I don’t come here very often, but whenever I do, I can count on a good verbal fight or two going on!
Go Larry!
Go Rod!
Go Administrator!
That’s good Floridian …but for one thing …my biggest pet peeve is STUPIDITY.
Notice that “Rod” doesn’t dare bring up the name Jonathan Martin, when defending Ross.
That fiasco was solely due to Ross’s final decision, and it absolutely turned out to be the wrong one, on so many levels.
There have been far too many similar mistakes made by Ross over the years, (a newbie NFL owner) that have kept the Dolphins in perpetual mediocrity since he took ownership of the team.
It was a case of 2 immature buddies heckling each other. Like every good leader, Mr. Ross carefully listened to both sides of the story before he…Ooops, sorry. He listened to one side and reacted, sending the Dolphins into a downward spiral. Wins don’t matter to him. Public perception does. And that is a poisonous misalignment of priorities to us fans.
Gotta say rod makes some good points. Ross should stay out of football operations. The problem with this team is the people making the football decisions for the past decade have no idea what they are doing. Jeff Ireland set this team back years with all his terrible drafts. Signing Alonso and branch last offseason and signing suh (which I said was a horrible idea) before that were terrible terrible moves that has left this team cash strapped. The answer isn’t Ross butting into operations more it’s getting new people to make the football decisions.
Wanting Ross to get new decision people IS the type of butting into football operations that we want. He does NO butting in at all, and we desperately need him to.
That’s just him doing his job, recommending what plays to run and what players to sign is to much. No one wants to work with someone that is going to micro manage them that’s true across all industries. Also I am against giving away home games but it’s a good point to make that our home games don’t really provide much of a home field advantage. It’s also a good point to make that bringing a super bowl to Miami is great for local business and is something that should make locals want to support the team more. Ross is not the best owner in sports because of his hiring track record. I mean to go from Jeff Ireland to tannebaum is so bad it’s crazy like hire someone with a good track record for once! But it’s not because he doesn’t care about the team. He clearly does he spent multi millions on it.
Here’s a perfect example:. Ross has the power to walk to the stadium right now and say: “I order you to pay Landry $16 million and keep him as Dolphin for years to come.”
But he won’t. He stays away from decisions where we desperately need him involved, and he involves himself in ventures that he should stay away from.
But if you guys want to defend him…
Oh, and let’s not forget Week 17, when Gase played 4th string QB David Fales and kept going for it on 4th down as if he were playing Madden, and not playing a professional game.
We had the chance to knock a division rival out of the playoffs, but instead Gase acted like a 4-year-old.
All of this, and Ross just sat back and allowed it.