While commissioner Roger Goodell handles a lot, the buck truly stops with NFL owners.
Each franchise has its own owner or owners, and their power is immeasurable. NFL owners have plenty of influence and power in the league office to regulate all the teams and bind them to the same rules.
Many teams are owned by ownership groups. In that case, we list the primary or majority shareholder if one has been designated.
The Green Bay Packers are a unique case, as they do not have an owner in the traditional sense but are owned by thousands of individuals who have purchased shares.
Who Are the NFL Owners?
- Arizona Cardinals | Michael Bidwill (2019-Present)
- Atlanta Falcons | Arthur M. Blank (2002-Present)
- Baltimore Ravens | Steve Bisciotti (2000-Present)
- Buffalo Bills | Terry and Kim Pegula (2014-Present)
- Carolina Panthers | David Tepper (2018-Present)
- Chicago Bears | Virginia Halas McCaskey (1983-Present)
- Cincinnati Bengals | Mike Brown (1991-Present)
- Cleveland Browns | Jimmy Haslam (2012-Present)
- Dallas Cowboys | Jerry Jones (1989-Present)
- Denver Broncos | Rob Walton (2022-Present)
- Detroit Lions | Sheila Ford Hamp (2020-Present)
- Green Bay Packers | Green Bay Packers, Inc. Shareholders (2019-Present)
- Houston Texans | Cal and Janice McNair (2018-Present)
- Indianapolis Colts | Jim Irsay (1997-Present)
- Jacksonville Jaguars | Shahid Khan (2011-Present)
- Kansas City Chiefs | Clark Hunt (2006-Present)
- Las Vegas Raiders | Mark Davis (2011-Present)
- Los Angeles Chargers | Dean Spanos (2018-Present)
- Los Angeles Rams | Stan Kroenke (2010-Present)
- Miami Dolphins | Stephen Ross (2008-Present)
- Minnesota Vikings | Zygi Wilf (2005-Present)
- New England Patriots | Robert Kraft (1994-Present)
- New Orleans Saints | Gayle Benson (2018-Present)
- New York Giants | John Mara (2005-Present)
- New York Jets | Woody Johnson (2000-Present)
- Philadelphia Eagles | Jeffrey Lurie (1994-Present)
- Pittsburgh Steelers | Dan M. Rooney (2008-Present)
- San Francisco 49ers | Denise DeBartolo York (1999-Present)
- Seattle Seahawks | Jody Allen (2018-Present)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers | The Glazer Family (2014-Present)
- Tennessee Titans | Amy Adams Strunk (2015-Present)
- Washington Commanders | Josh Harris (2023-Present)
Who Is the Richest NFL Owner?
The Denver Broncos have the richest ownership group, as they were sold to the Walton-Penner ownership group in 2022.
The group is led by Walmart heir Rob Walton, his daughter Carrie Walton Penner, and his son-in-law Greg Penner, plus limited partners Mellody Hobson, Condoleezza Rice, and Lewis Hamilton.
Walton himself is not only the richest NFL owner but one of the richest men in the world. He has a net worth of $93.1 billion, according to Forbes, which places him as the 19th-richest person in the world.
MORE: Ranking All 32 NFL Owners By Their Net Worth
Just how rich is Walton compared to his NFL peers? For comparison, the Hunt family, who own the back-to-back Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, are the next-richest owners, and their net worth is $24.8 billion. Walton has them beat by nearly $60 billion, and that doesn’t include the rest of the ownership group.
The next richest owners are David Tepper of the Carolina Panthers, who is third with a net worth of $20.6 billion, and Jody Allen, who owns the Seattle Seahawks, with a net worth of $20.3 billion. Those two, the Hunt family, and Walton, are the only NFL owners with a net worth over $20 billion.
Who Owns the Green Bay Packers?
While almost every team has a specific owner or ownership group, the Green Bay Packers are a bit different.
The Packers have been a publicly-owned, non-profit corporation since Aug. 18, 1923. The corporation currently has around 537,460 stockholders who collectively own an estimated 5.2 million shares of stock.
MORE: Ranking the NFL Owners From Youngest to Oldest
There have been six stock sales in the Packers’ lifetime — the first being in 1923, followed by 1935, 1950, 1997, 2011, and the most recent in 2021. Shares in 1923 sold for $5 each. In 1997, they were $200 each. In 2011, they were $250. And in 2021, they were $300.
It’s a unique and very different situation compared to the NFL’s other 31 franchises. In fact, NFL governing bodies no longer allow teams to be owned in that way, meaning the Packers are the only exception.
Why? The NFL does not allow corporate ownership of clubs, requiring that every team be owned by either a single owner or a small group of owners, at least one of whom must hold at least a one-third stake in the team. The Packers are exempt from this rule because they were a publicly owned corporation before the rule was in place. Basically, they were grandfathered in.
The Packers are run by a board of directors, serving as the “owner of record” for the franchise in the eyes of the NFL. However, there are stocks and shares to be had.