What You Should Know About Tampa Bay Buccaneers Owner Joel Glazer
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicked some serious turf through the 2020 season. Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski have been a super duo all on their own. They had over 6,000 total yards during their regular season and pushed themselves through the playoffs to earn the honor of hosting (and competing in) Super Bowl LV just days from when this piece was written. This victory comes not only from the team members on the field but from the ones in the offices as well. People like owner Joel Glazer helped assemble and fund the team, so they could be the powerhouse they are today.
Glazer and his family have been in the sports business for a few decades, and they’ve called Tampa Bay their metaphorical home since they got into the business of football, but Joel Glazer isn’t just football. He’s a lot of other things, too. Like, money and business and more money, and probably some other stuff, too. Here’s what you should know about Joel Glazer, the owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He comes from a billionaire family
Buccaneers owner Joel Glazer isn’t rich because he owns the NFL team. He owns the team because his family is what we in the business refer to as “filthy rich.” Joel and the rest of the Glazer siblings come from money made through the First Allied Corporation that, until his death, was run by their father Malcolm Glazer. The company was first and foremost in the real estate business, buying up commercial land that Forbes estimates was over 6.7 million square feet. It was mostly shopping centers and the like.
The family didn’t branch out to the sports business until 1995 when Malcolm acquired the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That’s when Joel really became known. He, with help from other family members, helped design and build the Raymond James Stadium at which Super Bowl LV is set to go down, according to the Buccaneers website. Joel Glazer might not be the self-made multimillionaire that his father was, but that’s okay. The Glazer siblings stepped up to run the company after their father died in 2014, with Joel holding the reins on the Buccaneers and growing its worth steadily over the past several years. Today, the Glazer family is worth billions.
The Glazers own another sports team and fans aren't happy with them
Joel Glazer might be best known for owning the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but it’s not the only sports team in the family’s portfolio. In 2006, the Glazer family purchased the Manchester United football (soccer) team in a move that a lot of people across the pond aren’t happy with. According to Bleacher Report, the team was publicly traded when Malcolm Glazer started snatching up stocks left and right. Eventually, the Glazer family owned the majority and were able to leverage a buyout. Of course, even most rich folk don’t have $1.3 billion lying around in cash. They did, however, have a little shy of $500 million, and they took the rest out in loans.
The loans were the first problem. To keep up with the ridiculous interest rates, ticket prices had to go up as well. A fan, also found via Bleacher Report, has even accused them of forcing the fans to pay for the Glazer’s ownership through their “hiked-up ticket prices.” Other fans, as found via Forbes, say the family only cares about making business decisions and don’t put effort into how the team performs on the field. So many fans carry such an intense hatred for Joel Glazer and his siblings that when they attended their first match, they had to be escorted away in a police van as a crowd of angry MU fans chanted for their deaths.
Joel Glazer supported Jameis Winston sexual assault allegations
Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and current New Orleans Saints quarterback Jameis Winston has had more than his fair share of trouble with uncouth behavior, ranging from accusations of theft to sexual assault allegations. Probably the most famous incident went public when an Arizona Uber driver came forward with claims, as ESPN details, that Winston had grabbed her no-no bits while in the drive-through of a Mexican restaurant. Of course, Winston denied these allegations, and Joel Glazer reportedly backed him, citing anecdotal evidence of his encounters with the player, the QB’s work ethic, and his community involvement.
In 2018, according to the Tampa Bay Times, Winston was suspended after the NFL decided he indeed touched the Uber driver in “an inappropriate and sexual manner without her consent.” What’s worse is that Glazer purportedly knew Winston had been accused of sexual assault before he ever made it into the NFL. The quarterback had settled out of court in a civil suit dating back to 2012 for allegedly assaulting a woman in her home. Joel Glazer put him on the team regardless. Now, we’re not saying that Glazer necessarily thinks his football team is more important than combating sexual assault against women, but he definitely felt strongly about supporting Winston through his “hard times.”
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