ALinChainz
02-14-2005, 07:55 PM
February 14, 2005
MINNEAPOLIS, United States (AFP) - Reggie Fowler, a former National Football League linebacker, became the first black owner of an NFL club here, reaching an agreement to purchase the Minnesota Vikings .
Vikings owner Red McCombs announced here Monday that he reached an agreement to sell the team to Fowler, a deal reportedly worth at least 625 million dollars. McCombs bought the club in 1998 for 246 million dollars.
"Being black didn't play a big part in me wanting to buy this team," Fowler said. "As James Brown said, 'I'm black and I'm proud,' but that didn't play a big part in wanting to buy an NFL team.
"I can tell you that Red didn't discount the sale price because of it."
The most recent NFL purchase had been Arthur Blank buying the Atlanta Falcons in 2002 for 545 million dollars.
The highest sales price for an NFL franchise was the 800 million dollars spent by Daniel Snyder for the Washington Redskins in 1999.
The deal, almost certain to be approved by league owners in the off-season, puts the 46-year-old Arizona businessman and former Cincinnati Bengals defender in select company as a minority owner in American team sports.
Robert Johnson, a black television entrepeneur, became the first minority owner of a National Basketball Association club when he purchased the Charlotte Bobcats expansion team that began play this season.
Arturo Moreno, a 56-year-old Mexican-American near-billionaire who made a fortune in billboard advertisements, completed a 180 million-dollar purchase of Major League Baseball's Anaheim Angels in 2003.
Japanese-born Hiroshi Yamauchi purchased a majority interest in baseball's Seattle Mariners in 1992.
McCombs had been frustrated with opposition for a new publicly funded stadium for the Vikings and has talked about moving the team to Los Angeles, but Fowler brushed aside talk of a new stadium.
"I won't talk about the stadium issue until we get approval from the NFL," Fowler said.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=afp-amfootnflvikings&prov=afp&type=lgns
MINNEAPOLIS, United States (AFP) - Reggie Fowler, a former National Football League linebacker, became the first black owner of an NFL club here, reaching an agreement to purchase the Minnesota Vikings .
Vikings owner Red McCombs announced here Monday that he reached an agreement to sell the team to Fowler, a deal reportedly worth at least 625 million dollars. McCombs bought the club in 1998 for 246 million dollars.
"Being black didn't play a big part in me wanting to buy this team," Fowler said. "As James Brown said, 'I'm black and I'm proud,' but that didn't play a big part in wanting to buy an NFL team.
"I can tell you that Red didn't discount the sale price because of it."
The most recent NFL purchase had been Arthur Blank buying the Atlanta Falcons in 2002 for 545 million dollars.
The highest sales price for an NFL franchise was the 800 million dollars spent by Daniel Snyder for the Washington Redskins in 1999.
The deal, almost certain to be approved by league owners in the off-season, puts the 46-year-old Arizona businessman and former Cincinnati Bengals defender in select company as a minority owner in American team sports.
Robert Johnson, a black television entrepeneur, became the first minority owner of a National Basketball Association club when he purchased the Charlotte Bobcats expansion team that began play this season.
Arturo Moreno, a 56-year-old Mexican-American near-billionaire who made a fortune in billboard advertisements, completed a 180 million-dollar purchase of Major League Baseball's Anaheim Angels in 2003.
Japanese-born Hiroshi Yamauchi purchased a majority interest in baseball's Seattle Mariners in 1992.
McCombs had been frustrated with opposition for a new publicly funded stadium for the Vikings and has talked about moving the team to Los Angeles, but Fowler brushed aside talk of a new stadium.
"I won't talk about the stadium issue until we get approval from the NFL," Fowler said.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=afp-amfootnflvikings&prov=afp&type=lgns