Super Profit For Super Bowl Champion Owner--Jeff Lurie Paid $185 Million To Buy Team In 1994 And Now It's Worth 35 Times More

Philadelphia Eagles franchise owner Jeffrie Lurie recently won his second Super Bowl, but the club's ascendency to the NFL's elite is no overnight success story. Lurie bought the team for $185 million in 1994 and today it's worth 35 times that. It's a monstrous return on an investment by a former professor of social policy at Boston University.  Keep reading to learn more about Lurie's transition from professor to mogul.

Fortune magazine profiled Lurie, who transitioned from academic life to business in 1983 when he joined his grandfather's successful movie theater chain, General Cinema Corporation. He used that as a springboard to start Chestnut Hill, a film and television production company that created three award-winning documentaries.

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Eventually, Lurie set his sights even higher and decided he wanted to own an NFL franchise. However, his entry into the NFL's ownership club did not come easily. Lurie's first attempt to buy an NFL team came in 1993 when he bid $172 million to buy the New England Patriots. That effort failed thanks to current Patriots owner Robert Kraft. 

Lurie turned his sights further down I-95 to the Eagles. The franchise was certainly not among the NFL's "glamor" franchises at the time, but it did have a motivated seller. On the field, the Eagles were a middle-of-the-road .500 football team that had just lost their best player, Reggie White, in free agency. Off the field, then owner Norman Braman was suffering from a series of health problems. 

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Braman recounted his situation in an interview with Forbes. "I had made up my mind a lot earlier that I was going to exit from ownership of the Eagles. I honestly believe stress and pressure have an impact on an individual’s quality of life," he told the magazine. Lurie used a combination of stock, financing, and his family trust to buy the franchise for $185 million. He found himself facing another financial problem almost immediately.

At the time, Philadelphia played in Veterans Stadium, an aging facility with limited fan cache and ancillary revenue opportunities. Lurie knew that his franchise would never be competitive playing in such an outdated facility. He told Forbes, "I was always worried that we were in [Veterans Stadium] and that we wouldn't be able to attract free agents, maintain top players that we had, and attract top coaching." 

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Lurie used a combination of his own capital and $200 million worth of public money to build Lincoln Financial Field and a new practice facility. The total cost was $512 million, and like most long-term investments, it didn't pay immediate dividends. It took Lurie several hires before he found the right coaching staff and won the club's first Super Bowl with coach Doug Pedersen in 2018. 

Lurie's front office rebuilt the Eagles' personnel and coaching staff to create their most recent Super Bowl winner. However, Lurie's Eagles had already secured their status as one of the NFL's elite franchises. Forbes estimates the franchise's value at $6.6 billion, which makes it the eighth most valuable team in the NFL and the 12th most valuable sports franchise in the world.

That means the value of Lurie's investment has grown 35 times under his leadership and Forbes pegs his net worth at $5.3 billion. It's a fitting testimonial to Lurie's vision and business acumen. No one could have imagined this outcome in 1994, except for maybe Lurie. 

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