Bill Belichick accomplished many great things during his 24 seasons as head coach of the Patriots. Fifteen months after getting fired, however, he’s taking way too much credit for the franchise’s financial success during his time with the team.
In that lengthy email posted on social media earlier today by his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, Belichick describes himself as “the leader of an organization that grew from a $500 [million] franchise to an $8 [billion] organization.”
Setting aside Belichick’s prior claim that it’s the players, not the coaches, who make teams successful, neither the players nor the coaches of any NFL team can claim responsibility for the ongoing increase in franchise worth. Every NFL team — even the most inept and dysfunctional — have seen their franchise valuations mushroom since 2000.
Washington owner Daniel Snyder, for example, was the leader of an organization that grew from a purchase price of $800 million franchise to sale price of $6.05 billion. And he was arguably one of the worst owners the NFL has seen, with two playoff wins during his 24-year tenure and a final flourish of scandal after scandal.
But he owned an NFL team. Over the past 30 years, that’s all it takes. Thanks to the business moves made by the league at large, every team has become more and more and more valuable.
When it comes to the strategic moves that have made the Patriots and all other teams ridiculously more valuable, owner Robert Kraft’s business acumen and effort have been far more directly responsible for that growth than anything Belichick ever did. Remember when Kraft took a direct role in ending the 2011 lockout? He also has been involved in multiple TV deals that have pumped billions of cash into the coffers, and that have helped spark an explosion in the book value of all branches of NFL Inc.
Yes, Belichick was the coach of a team that won six Super Bowl championships. He made none of the business moves that have made the Patriots and the rest of the NFL’s franchises as valuable as they now are.
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