Eagles are Super Bowl masters. This is how their owner earned its wealth of $ 5.3 billion.

On By Littum

Jeffrey Lurie pledged his family wealth to buy a fighting team in 1994. Now Philadelphia is one of the NFL’s most valuable franchises and a two-time Super Bowl champion.

By Justin BirnbaumForbes staff

J.Effrey Lurie has produced Three Oscar-winning documentaries, but still he couldn’t have written a better ending for his Philadelphia Eagles, which crushed Kansas City Chiefs, 40-22, in the Super Bowl Lix on Sunday night.

“This is a very, very special Eagles family,” said the 73-year-old as he raised his second Lombardi trophy in front of a rocky audience inside New Orleans’ Superdome before entering the closet room and loosing some Charming clumsy dance traits During the fierce party. “Incredible, talented players who happen to be selfless and humble every single day of the year. A credit to the coaching staff led by Nick (Sirianni). (General Manager) Howie (Roseman) and his staff, incredible. And by the way, about 200 other people, the support staff you never hear about, and also a few dogs.

“And to our amazing fans, Eagles are again world champions.”

For Philadelphia, it’s the culmination of a redeeming bow that began two years ago after the team lost the Super Bowl LVII to Chiefs in heartbreaking way. Eagles’ revenge-with a dominant six-bag view from their defensive line and an MVP performance from Quarterback Jalen hurts Kansas City the opportunity to become the first team in the NFL story to win three consecutive Super Bowls.

Lurie, whose net worth is now at an estimated $ 5.3 billion, has also poured the winner off the field. Eagles are worth $ 6.6 billion, according to Forbes estimates, making them the eighth most valuable team in the NFL and the 12th most in any sport. Since Lurie bought Philadelphia for $ 185 million in 1994, he has seen appreciation of 3,500% – and his return could be even better than that, after the sale of an 8% share in December to a reported valuation of $ 8.3 billion ( Although prices for small pieces of teams do not necessarily match the values ​​in the sale of the control).

But while the NFL’s cash -generating machine, with an annual average of $ 12.4 billion in national medical rights payments, had to continue to run these numbers higher, Eagles were hardly a safe thing as Lurie gambles his family’s fortune to buy the team.

“Never try to make the popular choices; Do what you think is right. ”

The fortune traces back to General Cinema Corporation, founded in 1935 by Lurie’s grandfather, Philip Smith, and during the following decade owned nine of the 15 drive-in theaters in the United States in the 1990s, the company controlled 315 films theater complexes plus 60% of Neiman Marcus -Detail chain, and it further diversified by acquiring Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, a fighting book publisher and insurance company, in An agreement of $ 1.4 billion. (The company was redirected as Harcourt General.)

First, Lurie mapped out his own path, studied in Clark, Boston and Brandeis universities and worked as an adjunct professor of social policy. He joined the family business in 1983, but left two years later to set up his own film and TV production company, the Los Angeles-based Chestnut Hill Productions.

It took Lurie decades to achieve Hollywood success with three Academy-pricing documentaries as a producer: Inside jobson the financial crisis of 2008; Inocentabout an undocumented homeless American teenager; and Summer of SoulCHRONICATION OF HARLEL CULTURAL FESTIVAL FROM 1969. Meanwhile, Lurie moved his focus to another passion: Professional football.

He was obsessed with the sport after watching Johnny Unitas and Baltimore Colts defeat New York Giants in the legendary NFL championship game from 1958, and Massachuset’s native was the season ticketer in Boston (later New England) Patriots. The team went on sale in 1993, but Lurie fell out of the race when the price surpassed $ 150 million.

Robert Kraft ended up spending $ 172 million on the franchise, though Lurie didn’t have to wait long for a new opportunity. After not bringing an expansion team to Baltimore-elected NFL to give teams to Carolina and Jacksonville-acquired Lurie Eagles from Miami-based luxury car dealer Norman Braman, worth estimating $ 3.6 billion today but had fought for a disease and wanted out of the sports business.

At that time, the paid lurie of $ 185 million is assumed to be the highest price ever for a professional sports franchise, and financing the agreement proved to be a Herculean task. Lurie and his mother, Nancy, borrowed a nine-digit loan from Bank of Boston using their Harcourt General Stock as equity and promised more from family life as security. In 1995, Lurie also added two limited partners, Richard Green from Firstrust Bank and long -time KKR performing Mike Michelson.

Lurie moved quickly in the early years. Over a decade, Eagles had a new practice facility of $ 37 million and had moved out of rat-infected veteran’s stage and into the $ 512 million Lincoln Financial Field, using nearly $ 200 million in public money.

“When Jeff bought the team, a large part of the money came from other family members – it wasn’t just that he started Microsoft and bought a football team,” says Marc Ganis, president of the consulting firm Sportscorp, often called the NFL’s “33. because of his close ties to football makers. “And that’s why one of the first things that Jeff went around was to get a new stadium – not to build a taj Mahal building for himself, but to build one that was right for Eagles – Fans who would also generate a lot of revenue. “

Lurie also has admiration of her opponent on Sunday, chief owner Clark Hunt who told Forbes Last week: “I’ve had the pleasure of earning in the Finance Committee with him for at least a decade, and I think he’s one of the smartest owners in the league. I always enjoy hearing his perspective. Sometimes it is a thought that the group has not had. I describe it as an out-of-the-box thought it is really good and really worth digging in. ”

Lurie has used this maverick mentality for team staff, dumping coach Andy Reid, Franchisen’s career wins leader, in 2012 and split with coach Doug Pederson and Franchise -quarterback Carson Wentz, even after they helped produce Eagles’ first Super Bowl championships in The 2017 season 2017. He has also made a great effort on international expansion, with Eagles playing the first NFL game ever in South America in São Paolo, Brazil, this season and picking up marketing rights in Australia, where the league plays its first game in 2026.

“One of the right lessons is always, try not to be popular,” said Lurie days before the Super Bowl. “Never try to make the popular choices; Do what you think is right. Sometimes it works; Sometimes it’s not. “

On Sunday, at least it couldn’t have worked better.

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