We’re still not sure what to make of Dolphins owner Stephen Ross.
In less than a year since acquiring controlling interest in the team he has sold small pieces of it to the likes of Jimmy Buffett, Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez, Gloria Estefan, and Venus and Serena Williams. (The list is already so long that we’re probably leaving someone out.)
The latest part owner? Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas.
Fergie’s minority stake in the team was approved at Tuesday’s ownership meetings in Boston, per Sean Leahy of USA Today.
And as Tom Pedulla of USA Today points out, the goals are to infuse diversity into ownership -- and to attract fans via glitz and glamor.
“We’ve eliminated the exclusivity of it being an all-white man’s club,” Ross told Pedulla. “That’s what I want people to feel. We want you.”
Still, there’s a fine line between running a football team and creating a sideshow of 0.15-percent owners with “A” list name recognition. And the plan entails some potential peril, given that V.P. of football operations Bill Parcells can walk away at any time and collect the balance of the two-plus years remaining on his contract. If he wakes up one day and concludes that the guy for whom he now works in South Florida is too much like the guy for whom he worked in North Texas, Parcells might just do it.
Moving forward, it remains to be seen whether other owners engage in similar tactics. Our guess is that many of them would not want to risk being overshadowed by big-name musicians, actors, and/or athletes, who will be more likely targets of the in-game camera shots.
But if the goal is to be the captain of a cruise ship where the consumer is more likely to buy a ticket when they think a bunch of celebrities will be milling about the poop deck, maybe there’s a method to what appears to be, in comparison to the other 31 franchises, a possible touch of madness.
