The Detroit Lions have a new principal owner, but the organization is not changing hands.
Sheila Ford Hamp will replace her mother, Martha Firestone Ford, as Lions owner and chairman effective immediately.
"My mother has inspired all of us since taking on leadership of the Lions over six years ago," Ford Hamp said in a statement released by the team. "She has been a tireless leader to our family, our team and our community. Her smart decisions have given me a solid foundation to take the team forward. On behalf of the family and the team, I want to thank her for her countless contributions. I look forward to leading the Lions to excellence on and off the field."
Ford Hamp has been a fixture in the organization, attending home and road games and taking part in key organizational decisions, since her mother took controlling interest in the team after William Clay Ford’s death in March of 2014.
"Martha Ford has led the Lions with skill and grace for the past six seasons," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a released statement after the news was announced. "I have appreciated her business insights, her love of the game, her deep commitment to the NFL, and her personal kindness. We are pleased that the Ford family will continue to own and operate this historic franchise."
She was appointed to the NFL’s Super Bowl and Major Events advisory committee last spring, and in what was thought to be her first semi-public show of power, met with a small group of reporters, along with her mother and team president Rod Wood, last December when the organization announced its decision to bring head coach Matt Patricia and general manager Bob Quinn back for a third season together this fall.
"(Changing coaches) would have been the popular choice, the popular decision, and we knew that," Ford Hamp said at the time. "But as I say, we’re doing what is right for the organization."
Firestone Ford, Ford Hamp and Wood all declined at that mostly-background session to address the organization’s succession plan for ownership, which has long been the subject of rumor and speculation.
At the time, they reiterated that Firestone Ford had no plans to sell the team and the Lions would remain in the Ford family for the foreseeable future, and all three signed a letter to fans that read in part, “To be clear, our expectation is for the Lions to be a playoff contender in 2020.”
William Clay Ford bought the Lions in 1963, on the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated, for about $6 million.
Firestone Ford, 94, has been owner and chairman the past six seasons, with her four children, Ford Hamp, Martha Ford Morse, Bill Ford Jr. and Elizabeth Ford Kontulis, serving as vice chairmen. The Lions have reached the playoffs twice under her guidance, in 2014 and 2017, and have posted a 45-50-1 record overall.
"It has been a great honor for our family to be associated with the Lions and with the National Football League," Firestone Ford said in a released statement. "I am gratified that this family tradition, which my husband and I began almost six decades ago, will continue under Sheila's guiding hand. It is clear to me that Sheila will provide superb leadership and is fully committed to competitive excellence and community involvement."
Ford Hamp, the second oldest of Firestone Ford’s children, assumed a prominent decision-making role under her mother’s watch, and long been pegged as the likely successor as owner.
She’s accompanied her mother to league meetings since 2014 and has been a sounding board at a minimum, and perhaps even a driving force at times, behind key organization decisions like the mid-season firing of Tom Lewand and Martin Mayhew in 2015, the hiring of Wood as president and Quinn as GM, and retaining Quinn and Patricia late last season.
"Sheila Hamp has become increasingly involved in team and league affairs over the past several years and we look forward to working with her and the rest of the club's executive team," Goodell said in his statement.
She was the commanding voice in the room during ownership’s December meeting with reporters, and her league responsibilities — she’s the first member of Lions ownership to serve on a committee since Bill Ford Jr. was on the broadcast committee in 2013-14 — was seen as training before taking over the team full-time.
“Sheila’s a relatively new member of the committee and it’a been great to have her on board," NFL executive vice president of club business and league events Peter O'Reilly told the Free Press last spring. "Obviously, Sheila in joining has been part of a number of our recent conversations, provides a great perspective. ... She’s been very active and very engaged and contributes a ton to the group."
More: Lions gamble keeping Quinn & Patricia, but Sheila Ford Hamp is reason to believe it may work
Ford Hamp has declined interview requests through the team in recent years out of deference to her mother, but is routinely on the field conversing with Wood, Patricia and other NFL owners before most games.
According to a biography on the team’s website, Ford Hamp was part of the class of female undergraduates from Yale, where she played varsity tennis.
She he was an accomplished junior tennis player in Michigan, where she won a state title at age 17, according to her bio, and earned her masters in teaching and early childhood education from Boston University.
Along with her role with the Lions, Ford Hamp is vice chairman of The Henry Ford, where her husband, Steve, who also regularly attends games and training camp practices, was president from 1996-2005, and serves on the boards of Henry Ford Hospital, the Ford Motor Company Fund and the College for Creative Studies.
The Lions remain one of six NFL teams with a female owner, along with the Chicago Bears (Virginia McCaskey), New Orleans Saints (Gayle Benson), Tennessee Titans (Amy Adams Strunk), Houston Texans (Janice McNair) and Seattle Seahawks (Jody Allen). The Buffalo Bills are co-owned by Kim and Terry Pegula, the Cleveland Browns are co-owned by Dee and Jimmy Haslam and the San Francisco 49ers are co-owned by Denise DeBartolo York and John York.
"It has been a great honor for our family to be associated with the Lions and with the National Football League," Firestone Ford said in a statement released by the team. "I am gratified that this family tradition, which my husband and I began almost six decades ago, will continue under Sheila’s guiding hand. It is clear to me that Sheila will provide superb leadership and is fully committed to competitive excellence and community involvement."
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Read more on the Detroit Lions and sign up for our Lions newsletter.
Read Again Brow https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiaGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmZyZWVwLmNvbS9zdG9yeS9zcG9ydHMvbmZsL2xpb25zLzIwMjAvMDYvMjMvc2hlaWxhLWZvcmQtaGFtcC1kZXRyb2l0LWxpb25zLW93bmVyLzMyMzQyMjMwMDEv0gEkaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuZnJlZXAuY29tL2FtcC8zMjM0MjIzMDAx?oc=5Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Sheila Ford Hamp to take over as Detroit Lions owner and chairman - Detroit Free Press"
Post a Comment