How Lions Owner William Clay Ford Sr. Could Learn from Mike Ilitch

If any of you get Sports Illustrated, I urge you to read the article by Lee Jenkins about what owner Mike Ilitch and the Detroit Tigers are giving the City of Detroit.

Since the end of spring training, unemployment as hit 23 percent, the average price of a home is $12,000, and the Tigers calculated that ticket sales were down 13,000. 

Despite these depressing numbers is that Comerica Park is filled with fans because Ilitch decided to take an aggressive approach to improve the team instead of having a fire sale like other small-market teams, such as the Cleveland Indians and Pittsburgh Pirates.

So how does all this translate into a Detroit Lions article, you ask?

As I read through the article, one statement that Jenkins quoted in the article from another major league executive about the Detroit Tigers owner struck home. "Their owner doesn't operate from a profit and loss standpoint. He treats the team more like a public trust."

When has William Clay Ford Sr. ever even remotely given the impression that the Lions are a public trust? Ilitch endured a 119-loss season, but the fans hardly gave him the ration of pain given to William Clay Ford.

Why? Because Ilitch did something about it. He and his staff went out and worked their collective tails off to improve the team. Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski is quoted in the article as saying Ilitch's "philosophy is never assume the answer is no." He built that 2003 franchise that lost 119 games to a World Series team in 2007.

Jenkins points out that Ilitch is consumed by two causes, neither of which is conducive to turning a profit: Turning around Detroit and winning the World Series.

What do we get from William Clay Ford Sr.? On June 25, 2009, he gave a rare interview. When asked about the 0-16 season last year, his response was "I thought it was horrible every time we'd lose. I'd go, 'Oh, geez.' For those who walked away, I couldn't blame them. It really wasn't much fun to watch. People were getting fed up, and I don't blame them a bit."

He accepts the Lions failures as his own for letting the franchise sink to its current depths. The bad thing is that it’s taken him over 45 years to figure it out. Ilitch knew had to give something back to the fans much sooner.

Ford has taken from the fans, and since he rarely speaks publicly, we have little idea how he feels being considered one of the worst owners in professional sports. Don't know how much one can read into "oh geez."

Ilitch gets it. He understands what a successful sports franchise means in times like these. It trickles down to the players. They know they are getting paid salaries that would take care of 50 unemployed workers for 10 years. So they hustle after everything...they run out ground balls, they sacrifice themselves to move the runner over...they do whatever it takes to win.

Ford has done nothing but take from his team's fans. He doesn't understand the concept that, despite the lousy product he has been responsible for year after year, he still has one of the best fan bases an owner could ask for.

One tidbit of information that I didn't know was that Ilitch convinced Bill Ford Jr. to build Ford Field next to Comerica. I don't know what other sites were being considered, but this shows how much Ilitch believes in the city...and just how much Ford takes it for granted.

It takes quite a bit to get me steamed. I am a huge fan of the Detroit Lions and damn proud of it. And in my estimation, Mr. Ford is a complete idiot.

The jury is still out on just how improved the Lions are this year...no one is picking them to win more than six games. But since 1961, his first year of sole ownership, he has done nothing to build a championship team.

He wasted the best running back to ever play the game...all he need to do was to open the pocket book a bit, get him a quarterback worth a darn and a defense to get the ball back, and I almost guarantee the Lions would have been in the Super Bowl sometime in the 1990s.

I really, really hope that he's got it right this time. I hope that he allows winning football games to be the driving factor rather than a profit and loss statement.

As for the Detroit Tigers, go get 'em, boys. Bring home a World Series trophy for the City of Detroit.