Financial history of the New York Giants

The Giants are currently owned by the sons of Wellington Mara and Bob Tisch—John K. Mara and Steve Tisch. An estimate of the franchise's current value places it at $4.9 billion.

Early history and fiscal struggles: 1925–1929

The Giants were founded in 1925 by

Mara soon realized that his purchase of the team did not yield any players, coaches, equipment, or a home field. March helped him establish the team by taking a job as the team's secretary and handling the personnel decisions, and Gibson served as the team's president. Mara's friends were wary of investing in the team, but he convinced Matty Frank, a real estate investor, and a few other people to invest. Mara rented the Polo Grounds as the team's stadium, and March developed a strategy that hinged on acquiring stars such as running back Jim Thorpe.^[10] At 37 years old, Thorpe was a shadow of his former self, and his contract required that he only play parts of games during the early parts of the season, until he got into shape. He played only the first regular season game however, before ending his Giants career due to injury.^[11] His absence would severely hurt the team's monetary outlook for the season.^[12]

Although the Giants were successful on the field in their first season, going 8–4 in 1925,^[13] their financial status was a different story. According to football historian Barry Gottehrer:^[14]

In the early days the NFL was strictly a low budget operation, and the Giants did little to strengthen it. Players earned less than $100 a game, schedules and franchises were subject to change from one day to the next, and Mara couldn't even give his tickets away.

Overshadowed by baseball, boxing, and college football, professional football was not a popular sport in 1925. Mara had to spend $25,000 of his own money during the season just to keep the franchise alive,^[15] and close friend and future New York state Governor Al Smith even implored him to sell the team.^[16] Mara needed $4,000 a game to cover his own outlays and $2,000 to $6,000, depending on the team, to pay the visitors to break even.^[17] He slashed ticket prices, and gave out over 5,000 free tickets a week.^[18] Although he used some moderately successful promotional gimmicks, such as having several players from the visiting Kansas City Cowboys dress up in his cowboy outfits and ride horses around New York City to promote that week's game,^[19] his struggle continued until the eleventh game of the season when Red Grange and the Chicago Bears came to town attracting over 73,000 fans—setting a pro football record.^[20] The game attracted such attention that 20,000 fans had to be turned away at the gates.^[21] This gave the Giants a much needed influx of revenue, and perhaps altered the history of the franchise.^[22] The team could have benefited even further, but Mara refused to raise ticket prices for the game.^[23]

The Giants went 8–4–1 in 1926,^[13] and withstood a challenge from an upstart American football league led by a team featuring Grange. Grange and his agent had formed the American Football League and placed their flagship team, the Yankees, in New York.^[15] According to a story by The New York Times published at the time, the Giants lost over $50,000 during the season.^[24] Grange's league lasted one season however, and was subsumed into the NFL.^[15] The Giants were so desperate to make money they allowed star Duluth Eskimos running back Ernie Nevers back into a close game after he was injured, even though by the rules they had the right to disallow his re-entrance, to please fans who had come to see him. The Yankees were subsumed into the NFL the next year and played most of their games on the road to avoid direct competition with the Giants. They folded in 1928, one year after Grange went back to playing for the Bears.^[25] The Giants paid a total of $21,000 in player salary in 1926, including paying all player expenses during the season, and player salaries ranged from $1,500 to $3,000.^[24] According to March, the attendance for the season was nearly equal to the 274,500 the team reported in their inaugural season. However, home attendance for games at the Polo Grounds dropped from 25,000 to 15,000 a game.^[24] The team's attendance on the road was significantly higher in their early history—the team averaged 57,000 in their three road games in 1925.^[13][24]

Mara replaced Gibson as the team's president before the 1927 season. He told March to spend whatever he felt necessary to build a championship caliber team.^[26] March overhauled the roster and the team finished 11–1–1, while winning its first NFL championship. They barely broke even financially however, and the team was still giving away as many as 4,000 tickets a game.^[27] Mara decided to reduce costs the following season, and instead of traveling first class, the Giants drove to games in a used bus, and stayed at local YMCAs instead of hotels. The team had to push the bus once for several miles when it broke down, and players had trouble sleeping at the Y. They won only four games, and Mara lost $40,000.^[28]

Before the 1929 season, Mara purchased the entire squad of the rival

I guess the only reason I'm staying in this now is Jack and Wellington. You've seen them at the games. If the Giants ever amount to anything it's all theirs. I've still got the bookmaking and they'll have the Giants.

— Tim Mara in conversation to then head coach Doc Alexander in 1926.^[31]

After losing money in the

In 1931 the team was struggling financially again after the retirement of Friedman. Tim Mara lamented not deducting expenses from the charity game versus Notre Dame, which had cost Mara a loss of around $15,000. Friedman returned around mid-season and his comeback boosted ticket sales. Mara also used promotions like a free ladies night game — which attracted 12,000 women — to increase interest in the team.[39] The Giants made a profit of $31,000 in 1931.^[40] Friedman quit the team after the season when Mara denied him an ownership stake, telling him "I'm sorry...but the Giants are for my sons."^[41]

By 1932, Wellington began keeping track of college players by studying "dozens of out-of-town newspapers" every day, and kept a file of all the players—pro and college—that he liked for the team. He updated the file every night, and by that year had begun giving his father lists of what he considered the best college players. After that season, he gave his father another list and suggested they draft more collegians as he felt the team was aging rapidly. When the New York Post became aware of this they published the following mocking poem:^[42]

Papa, please buy me a tackle.

I'd like a big halfback, too.
I'd like old Green Bay to schackle.

Maybe Angelo Brovelli would do.

Before the next season Tim Mara signed

My Brother Jack's president and treasurer, my Pop's chairman of the board, and I'm secretary. Pop and Jack worry about the tickets. Mom and I worry about the team.

— Wellington Mara breaking down the family's various business roles in the late 1930s.[46]

By 1935 Jack Mara had received a degree from

By 1946, Tim Mara had given over complete control of the team to his sons. Jack, the older son, controlled the business aspects, while Wellington concentrated on the on-field operations.[5]^[32] In that same year, NBC televised the Giants game versus the Green Bay Packers on September 20—the first non-experimental televised game in league history.^[56] In 1953, John Mara stated that he felt television was actually harmful to the Giants financial prospects.^[57] In court testimony at the government's anti-trust case against the NFL, Mara called for what he termed a "full-house guarantee", stating that unless all home game were guaranteed to be sold out, they should not be televised within a 75-mile (121 km) radius of New York City. The Giants had made $49,000 in gate revenue, $50,000 in radio receipts, and $108,000 in television receipts in 1952.^[57]

Although the Giants were no longer the league's top draw by 1955, falling to ninth in attendance and being one of three teams which had decreased attendance compared to the previous season, the Maras were still financially secure enough to turn down an offer of one million dollars for the team.

The Giants captivated New York. Before the 1962 NFL championship game versus the Packers, 10,000 fans at a New York Knicks game spontaneously began chanting "Beat Green Bay! Beat Green Bay!", and when the 18,000 tickets available to non season ticket holders went on sale for the game, they sold within three hours.^[62] Fans made reservations for motels in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut so they could watch the game out of the 75 mile blackout zone, and even though the game was played in single digit weather with 35 mph winds, only 299 fans who bought tickets stayed home.^[63]

Wilderness years: 1964–1978

After advancing to the league championship game in five out of the past six seasons, the Giants financial outlook was bright heading into the 1964 season.^[64] The team even went so far as to book movie theaters where fans could watch the team's games for six dollars.^[64] However, the team struggled mightily, finishing 2–10–2 in 1964,^[13] beginning an 18-season playoff drought. This period in team history is often referred to as "the wilderness years".^[5] In 1965, Jack Mara died, leaving his 50% share in the team to his son Tim.^[5]

While Wellington and Jack had a solid relationship, Tim and Wellington frequently clashed. "Wellington Mara lives the spiritual life." Former Giant Frank Gifford later recalled. "I never heard him utter a swear word. He goes to mass almost every day and has put all eleven of his children through catholic colleges. That's Well's life: his family, his church, and his Giants."^[65][66] Tim, however, had two ex-wives and lived a more outgoing, laid back lifestyle.^[65]

Wellington fought the AFL-NFL merger that took place in the 1966 season, and as a result, the league gave him $10 million to allow another team, the Jets, into the city as an NFL team. The money was paid out in yearly installments of $500,000.^[67] In 1971, Pete Axthelm, writing in New York magazine, said that "a conservative estimate of Wellington Mara's profit would begin at $1 million."^[68] The writer said that the Maras were known to treat positive reporters well and mistreat negative ones, sometimes by giving them unfavorable seats and on some occasions by supposedly calling their sports editors to request they no long cover the team.^[69]

Desiring their own home stadium, in the early 1970s the Giants reached an agreement with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority to play their home games at a brand-new, state-of-the-art, dedicated football stadium.^[70] Some New Yorkers were furious and Mayor John Lindsay had attempted to keep the team in the city by proposing to buy Yankee Stadium and renovate it at a cost of $24 million. Lindsay estimated that they brought $3 million to the city, and was anxious to keep that revenue, as well as satisfy New York Giants fans.^[68] Axthlem characterized the Giants fan base at the time as mostly "white, suburban and fairly well to do, and its members drive cars to football games."^[69] The battle became nasty with members of the New York City side claiming that the Maras "complained of how inconvenient it was for them to park, or for them to get out to the neighborhood."^[69] They claimed the Maras "never really negotiated. They just listened...I think they were afraid if they asked for something, we might give it to them—and they wanted to keep us from offering a deal that they couldn't turn down."^[68] In fact, the Maras had already made the agreement to move out of the city, even though Wellington was still placating the city.^[68] He felt this was a factor in the Maras' decision to move the stadium, as the attendees could drive to their New Jersey stadium as opposed to traveling through the Bronx to Yankee Stadium.^[69] The new stadium, which would become known as Giants Stadium, was to be built at a brand new sports complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey.^[70] The decision met with outrage from some New Yorkers, and the city's mayor John Lindsay sought legal action to prevent the team from playing in Yankee Stadium — or anywhere else in New York — and demanded a congressional investigation into the deal.^[65]

As the complex was being built, and their current home at Yankee Stadium was being renovated, they would be without a home for three years.^[65] Their final full season at Yankee Stadium was 1972. After playing their first two games there in 1973, the Giants played the rest of their home games in 1973, as well as all of their home games in 1974, at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut.^[71] This was done primarily out of a desire to have their own home field, as opposed to having to share Shea Stadium with the Jets.^[72] Initially the NFL had a blackout policy which prevented them from playing in Connecticut, but congress passed legislation, later signed by Richard Nixon, that changed the blackout rule.^[73] However, between access problems, neighborhood issues, the fact that the Yale Bowl was not ideally suited for pro football (the stadium did not have lights, nor does it have lights today), the age of the stadium (it was built in 1914), and the lack of modern amenities, the Giants reconsidered their decision when their stadium was not completed on schedule in time for the 1975 season.^[71][73] Construction was delayed a year because of construction delays, cost overruns, seven lawsuits by various groups, and political haggling — New York's Governor attempted to block the team's move, and the incumbent Democratic New Jersey Governor and his republican challenger argued over the stadium.^[73][74] They ultimately agreed to share Shea Stadium with the Jets for the 1975 season.^[71] The Giants left Yale Bowl after losing all seven home games played at Yale in the 1974 season and compiling a home record of 1–11 over that two-year stretch.^[75]

Giants Stadium opened in 1976 to a sellout crowd. The stadium cost $78 million to build, and had a capacity of 80,242.^[76] The Giants led the league in home attendance in 1978, drawing 604,800 in their eight games.^[77] However, one of the low points in team history occurred during the season: the so-called "Miracle at the Meadowlands".^[78] With the Giants needing only to kneel the ball to secure a certain victory against the Philadelphia Eagles,^[78] they chose to call a running play—which resulted in a fumble that was returned for a game-winning touchdown by the Eagles.^[78] Two games later, angry Giants fans burned tickets in the parking lot.^[5] Protests continued throughout the remainder of the season, reaching a crescendo in the final home game. A group of fans hired a small plane to fly over the stadium on game day carrying a banner that read: "15 years of lousy football ... we've had enough."^[5] The game had 24,374 no-shows, and fans hanged an effigy of Wellington Mara in the Stadium parking lot.^[79]

Modern history: 1979–present

The Giants made the decision to hire a

The 1990 season and Super Bowl win marked the end of an era for the Giants. Shortly after the win, defensive coordinator Bill Belichick left to become head coach of the Cleveland Browns, and Parcells decided in the spring of 1991 to leave the Giants for a career in broadcasting. There was also an ownership change in what had been one of the most stable front offices in professional sports. In February 1991, after being diagnosed with Cancer,^[5] Tim Mara sold his 50% interest in the team to Bob Tisch for a reported $80 million.^[88] The sale was actually worked out before the Super Bowl but not announced until afterwards, so as to avoid distracting the team.^[89] It marked the first time since their inception in 1925 that the Giants had not been wholly owned and controlled by the Mara family.

Tisch was technically the team's co-chief executive at first, however given his lack of football knowledge he chose to defer to Wellington Mara on football decisions in his initial seasons with the club. Although he later took a more active role in making decisions related to the football side of the team, in general, Tisch concentrated on the financial aspects, while Mara focused on the on-field product.

On October 25, 2005, Giants patriarch Wellington Mara died after a brief illness, at the age of 89. Mara had been involved with the Giants since he was nine years old, when he was a ball boy for the team.^[91] Mara was universally beloved by the players.^[92] Hall of Fame linebacker Harry Carson, who played during some of the team's down years in the 1970s, never became angry at Mara despite being frustrated with the team's performances. "The Giants’ organization cares about its players more than most teams in the NFL. This stems from the top. The Maras are family men and Wellington, especially, has sought to cultivate a family atmosphere in the team.... If any NFL owner deserves a championship, it is Mara."^[92] According to Parcells, Wellington made an effort to get to know each of his players. "The Giants are Wellington Mara's whole life, they have been his whole life. He's at the office every day, he's at practice very day, he loves hanging around the locker room and getting to know the players."^[92] Despite his strong religious convictions, he put aside his personal beliefs, and avoided preaching to players who were having problems. "Nobody did more for me than Wellington Mara." Lawrence Taylor said. "He didn't have to save me, he didn't have to keep helping me to find help.... And he never lectured me. I could tell he disapproved but he never lectured me."^[92] Several players went to Mara's bedside as he was dying to say goodbye to the owner. The team dedicated their next game to Mara, and shut out the Redskins 36–0.^[93]

Just twenty days after Mara's death, on November 15, 2005, Tisch died at the age of 79. He was diagnosed in 2004 with inoperable brain cancer. Tisch was a philanthropist all his life and donated considerable sums of money to charitable causes. After his diagnosis, he donated money to institutions aimed towards the research of drugs and treatments to control brain tumors.^[94]

In 2010, the

• New York Giants seasons
• Logos and uniforms of the New York Giants
• List of New York Giants players

Notes