NFL: Caveat venditor

In general, the media spends too much time talking about Rush Limbaugh, but the idea that Limbaugh might buy the St. Louis Rams of the NFL is too tempting to resist commenting on, but only because it combines a couple of my favorite topics: sports, economics and politics.
 
The essential question is whether Limbaugh’s propensity for racially and politically insensitive remarks make him unfit to be an owner of an NFL team. On one hand, you can argue that the St. Louis Rams are private property and society should not start conditioning ownership of private property on a person’s legal speech habits. Conversely, you can argue that there is a different standard between a person’s opinions expressed as a political talk radio host and the political opinions expressed as an owner of an NFL franchise. An NFL franchise might not be deserving of public money (though many do), but they often capture a community’s trust, dedication and identity. Granted, it’s not as large a standard as there is between what a talk radio host can say on air and what is permissible for an appellate justice to express in public.

Ultimately, I would argue purchasing an NFL team isn’t like buying 500 Bugatti Veyrons. The other owners in the NFL take a vote on whom they let join their 32-member club. In that vote, the owners will make a judgment whether Limbaugh and his partner are the best ownership bid. NFL owners have a right to consider a potential owner’s public conduct, in addition to the strength of his financial bid.

Several years ago, ESPN hired Limbaugh to be an analyst on its pre-game show, and he made an incredibly stupid remark about Donovan McNabb. The remark wasn’t the most offensive thing I’ve ever heard, but it was so far off the mark that it revealed that Limbaugh relishes in stoking racial discontent. Granting Limbaugh an ownership stake would be an affirmation of his behavior.

One final side note, after watching the excellent documentary “The Band that Wouldn’t Die” about the marching band of the Baltimore Colts that kept going even after Jim Irsay, the self-destructive owner, moved the team to Indianapolis, I think an owner’s commitment to a local community should be an overriding consideration in any bid. Additionally, the film reiterated that NFL franchises aren’t simply a purely private commodity.

The views expressed in this blog do not represent the views or opinions of Generations United.