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+--- Thread: Mike Brown Revealed (from 2009) (/thread-12740.html)
Mike Brown Revealed (from 2009) - Bengalholic - 09-28-2017
I saw the Knowlton probate trial referenced in another thread, and I thought it would be interesting to share some the the reporting that came out of that (per Cincinnati Enquirer) surrounding Mike Brown, especially for those who are unfamiliar with it:
Court case reveals Bengals' millions
By Kimball Perry • kperry@enquirer.com • April 24, 2009
In a case that provides a rare glimpse into the closely held finances of the Cincinnati Bengals, the Ohio Supreme Court this month validated a stock deal that gave Mike Brown’s family unquestioned control of the NFL team.
The court upheld a 2007 ruling in a contentious Hamilton County lawsuit.
Through the years, Bengals’ finances have been so closely held that even informed guesses of the team’s value made by experts in the lawsuit varied widely – from $141 million to $1.18 billion.
The Enquirer analyzed transcripts of that trial that give tantalizing glimpses of the finances of the team and the Brown family.
Among details of the team’s finances that emerged from the case is that from 1994 to 2000 – as Brown campaigned for and got a new publicly funded stadium to remain solvent and stay in Cincinnati – the team paid Brown and his family in excess of $50 million.
That amount includes money the team paid to the Brown family as the team’s majority shareholders, as well as millions annually for their salaries and bonuses as team employees.
The numbers came from expert testimony given during the hard-fought 2007 Hamilton County Probate Court trial over the $300 million estate of Austin “Dutch” Knowlton, a Bengal founder who also was an owner of the Cincinnati Reds.
Knowlton died in 2003 at age 93, but left a will that excluded his adult children.
The children sued, saying they were improperly cut out of their father’s will, and blamed Knowlton’s lawyer – prominent Cincinnati attorney and Bengals shareholder Charles Lindberg.
They accused Lindberg of violating his duty as Knowlton’s lawyer and his interest as a trustee of Knowlton’s $300 million charitable trust because while he served as Knowlton’s personal lawyer, Lindberg was the managing partner of the Cincinnati law firm of Taft Stettinius & Hollister that also represented the Bengals and the Brown family in legal issues – including the stock deal in question.
The case went to trial in 2007, and Lindberg and Brown testified. A jury found the stock deal valid, a ruling upheld in an opinion authored by Judge Patrick Dinkelacker of the Ohio 1st District Court of Appeals. That was appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court, which declined April 8 to hear the case, effectively ending it.
Testimony revealed the contentious, often-bitter relationship between Brown and Knowlton, who feuded for years over many issues, including what Knowlton believed were exorbitant salaries paid by the team to the Brown family members in the front office.
The centerpiece of the lawsuit was a 1994 secret deal between Knowlton and Brown. Knowlton supposedly wanted cash to live on – even though he was multimillionaire – and Mike Brown wanted majority ownership of the team.
The agreement resulted in Knowlton selling 60 of his then-236 shares of the Bengals to the Brown family for $6 million – $100,000 per share – a price Knowlton’s children considered outrageously low. In exchange, the Brown family gained ownership of two-thirds of the team’s 586 shares and Brown agreed the team would pay shareholders the vast majority of team revenues.
The result was that Knowlton got $6 million for those shares and Brown agreed to pay shareholders $80 million, more than half of which – $48 million – went to the Brown family.
Trial evidence shows Mike Brown got unquestioned control of the team and the right to determine how much the team would pay his family members employed there.
The Bengals declined to comment for this story, and also declined to confirm the validity of the finances testified to during that 2007 trial. The Enquirer presented the finances used in this story to the Bengals and asked if the numbers were accurate, but the team declined comment.
“The information requested by The Enquirer from the Bengals is proprietary and will not be made public by the Club,” Bengals spokesman Jack Brennan wrote in an e-mail to The Enquirer.
At about the same time Brown and Knowlton made the deal between themselves, Brown was leading a campaign – ultimately successful – to have Hamilton County voters approve a sales tax increase that would pay for a new football stadium, named for Brown’s father, Hall-of-Fame coach Paul Brown.
That sales tax hike convinced Brown to keep the team in Cincinnati – with lease terms that critics say are far too favorable for the team. Hamilton County went to court in 2003 to amend lease terms, claiming the lease was “grossly one-sided in the Bengals’ favor.” That claim was eventually disallowed by the courts.
Part of the team’s lease with the county is for stadium maintenance. Hamilton County records show that since Paul Brown Stadium opened in 2000, the public has paid $96.3 million for stadium maintenance, including a projected $10.7 million bill this year.
Shareholder finances were just some of the team’s finances it and the Brown family fiercely guard.
Edward VonderBrink, an accountant hired to review the team’s audited financial reports as part of the trial, had to sign a confidentiality agreement to reveal none of that financial information except in court.
During his trial testimony, Brown often refused to answer questions about team finances and his lawyers fought to prevent him from answering finance questions.
Others findings include:
• Mike Brown received millions in “general manager” bonuses, even though the team has no such title.
VonderBrink testified the team paid a “general manager” bonus of $1,237,000 in 1999 and $1,947,695 in 2001. Brown testified in the trial he received a bonus every year since he took over running the team in 1991.
• The $48 million paid to the Brown family came as the team also paid five Brown family members annual average salaries of more than $700,000, court documents note. The family members in addition to Mike Brown are: Brown’s brother, Pete Brown; Brown’s son, Paul Brown; Brown’s daughter, Katie Blackburn; and her husband, Troy Blackburn.
Those five family members, VonderBrink testified, were paid combined salaries of $3,926,000 in 1999 – an average salary of $785,200 – and $3,613,000 in 2001, an average salary of $722,600.
RE: Court case reveals Bengals' millions
Brown got 'GM bonus,' records show
By Kimball Perry • kperry@enquirer.com • April 24, 2009
As the Cincinnati Bengals gather to select players in this weekend's draft to improve player talent, some have renewed calls for the team to hire a football-wise general manager.
Those critics likely were unaware, though, that the team has had a general manager since 1991 - or at least has been paying Mike Brown a bonus of $1 million or more each year for that job.
Financial documents entered as evidence in a 2007 Hamilton County Probate Court trial - and Brown's testimony in that trial - reveal Brown has received an annual bonus for 18 years.
"Since my father's death, that was in 1991, I have" been paid an annual bonus, Brown testified in the 2007 trial.
In at least two of those years, that bonus was a "general manager" bonus, court documents note:
1999 - Brown was paid a "general manager bonus" of $1,237,000 when the team went 4-12.
2001 - Brown was paid a GM bonus of $1,947,695 when the team went 6-10.
General managers generally oversee a staff that deals with acquiring players - from drafting to contract negotiations to signing them.
The team has a 101-186-1 record - a 35 percent winning percentage - since 1991, when Mike Brown took control of the team following the death of his father, Paul Brown.
The team's Web site doesn't list a general manager position among team executives.
The team declined to address the general manager issue when contacted by The Enquirer for this story.
Brown, who rarely talks to the media, did so in late November as his team was being clobbered on the field in an 0-8 start. Brown called the season a "massive disappointment."
On the Bengals-owned Web site, Bengals.com, Brown was asked by a Bengals employee for a Dec. 1 question-and-answer story, "People want you to fire yourself and hire a GM." and "Sounds like you're staying as GM."
Brown replied: "I remember in the NFL when there were no general managers. Today a lot of teams don't have general managers. ... The answer to the general manager problem is the same answer that we have to have for all of these criticisms. We have to win. When we manage to do that, we won't hear so much about this kind of talk."
RE: Mike Brown Revealed (from 2009) - bengals73 - 09-28-2017
You need at least sixteen pigs to finish the job in one sitting, so be wary of any man who keeps a pig farm. They will go through a body that weighs 200 pounds in about eight minutes. That means that a single pig can consume two pounds of uncooked flesh every minute. Hence the expression, "as greedy as a pig".
RE: Mike Brown Revealed (from 2009) - PhilHos - 09-28-2017
Say what you will about Mike Brown (God knows, I do), but he's not a stupid man. IMO, this just makes his tenure as head of the Bengals that much worse.
RE: Mike Brown Revealed (from 2009) - muskiesfan - 09-28-2017
Mike Brown guards the financial information so tightly because the city would be pissed to find out how much he's making and how little he's putting in. He cried poor and got his sweetheart stadium deal. The guy is a total prick. He's bent the city over and still won't do all it takes to be a truly competitive team. He finds ways to save extra money every year from rollover cap and keeping the largest amount for in case of injury fund. With the rookie wage scale, he still keeps more than he needs for draft picks. The list goes on and on. He's a big part of the reason for the league's salary floor. **** Mike Brown.
While this is the sole source of income for his family, they've made a shit ton of money from owning the Bengals. He doesn't want the world to see how much he and his family have profited while being the absolute worst owner/GM in all of professional sports.
RE: Mike Brown Revealed (from 2009) - PhilHos - 09-28-2017
(09-28-2017, 06:06 PM)muskiesfan Wrote: Mike Brown guards the financial information so tightly because the city would be pissed to find out how much he's making and how little he's putting in. He cried poor and got his sweetheart stadium deal. The guy is a total prick. He's bent the city over and still won't do all it takes to be a truly competitive team. He finds ways to save extra money every year from rollover cap and keeping the largest amount for in case of injury fund. With the rookie wage scale, he still keeps more than he needs for draft picks. The list goes on and on. He's a big part of the reason for the league's salary floor. **** Mike Brown.
While this is the sole source of income for his family, they've made a shit ton of money from owning the Bengals. He doesn't want the world to see how much he and his family have profited while being the absolute worst owner/GM in all of professional sports.
Do you think Katie has learned to be this way? Or do you think she's comfortable with maybe making less in an effort to win football games?
RE: Mike Brown Revealed (from 2009) - bengalfan74 - 09-28-2017
Brown replied: "I remember in the NFL when there were no general managers. Today a lot of teams don't have general managers. ... The answer to the general manager problem is the same answer that we have to have for all of these criticisms. We have to win. When we manage to do that, we won't hear so much about this kind of talk."
When you plan on starting the winning part Mike ? I'd bet the GM bonus isn't going to stop until you do.
RE: Mike Brown Revealed (from 2009) - Millhouse - 09-28-2017
(09-28-2017, 06:06 PM)muskiesfan Wrote: Mike Brown guards the financial information so tightly because the city would be pissed to find out how much he's making and how little he's putting in. He cried poor and got his sweetheart stadium deal. The guy is a total prick. He's bent the city over and still won't do all it takes to be a truly competitive team. He finds ways to save extra money every year from rollover cap and keeping the largest amount for in case of injury fund. With the rookie wage scale, he still keeps more than he needs for draft picks. The list goes on and on. He's a big part of the reason for the league's salary floor. **** Mike Brown.
While this is the sole source of income for his family, they've made a shit ton of money from owning the Bengals. He doesn't want the world to see how much he and his family have profited while being the absolute worst owner/GM in all of professional sports.
![[Image: giphy.gif]](https://media.giphy.com/media/5hHOBKJ8lw9OM/giphy.gif)
RE: Mike Brown Revealed (from 2009) - oncemoreuntothejimbreech - 09-28-2017
In 2011, the Brown family purchased the remaining shares they didn't own for $200 million in straight cash, homey.
RE: Mike Brown Revealed (from 2009) - PDub80 - 09-28-2017
(09-28-2017, 05:51 PM)bengals73 Wrote: You need at least sixteen pigs to finish the job in one sitting, so be wary of any man who keeps a pig farm. They will go through a body that weighs 200 pounds in about eight minutes. That means that a single pig can consume two pounds of uncooked flesh every minute. Hence the expression, "as greedy as a pig".
Brick Top was an underrated character in my opinion.
RE: Mike Brown Revealed (from 2009) - PDub80 - 09-28-2017
Rich guy do rich guy things.... Why are people surprised by this? It's business. I would be angling for the same advantages and results.
RE: Mike Brown Revealed (from 2009) - firstand10 - 09-28-2017
WOW!
RE: Mike Brown Revealed (from 2009) - McC - 09-28-2017
Reinforces what we already knew--he is a rotten bastard. We won't win a SB in the next 50 years either.
RE: Mike Brown Revealed (from 2009) - HarleyDog - 09-28-2017
(09-28-2017, 07:28 PM)McC Wrote: Reinforces what we already knew--he is a rotten bastard. We won't win a SB in the next 50 years either.
But at least we know the owner is a winner every year.
RE: Mike Brown Revealed (from 2009) - WildCat - 09-28-2017
still sickens me that hamilton county made that deal. after enduring the 90's under mike brown, i honestly just wanted him to go ahead and move the team. i'd rather be a chiefs fan right now, the memories with my father will disallow me to do that.
RE: Mike Brown Revealed (from 2009) - Pat5775 - 09-28-2017
I remember this. Wasn't this info all over the old boards after the 2010 season?
RE: Mike Brown Revealed (from 2009) - Wyche'sWarrior - 09-28-2017
IF the day ever comes that the Bengals win it all....I will rejoice and cheer like hell....but I'll be damned if I ever feel good for Son of Paul, or forgive him.
**** that son of a *****.
RE: Mike Brown Revealed (from 2009) - SunsetBengal - 09-28-2017
(09-28-2017, 08:54 PM)Wyche Wrote: IF the day ever comes that the Bengals win it all....I will rejoice and cheer like hell....but I'll be damned if I ever feel good for Son of Paul, or forgive him.
**** that son of a *****.
Yep, pretty much sums up my feelings on the matter, as well.
RE: Mike Brown Revealed (from 2009) - Awful Llama - 09-28-2017
(09-28-2017, 06:12 PM)PhilHos Wrote: Do you think Katie has learned to be this way? Or do you think she's comfortable with maybe making less in an effort to win football games?
Prolly that first thing you said. But, who really knows? Only Mike completely out of the picture and her at the helm will tell. Now if on her first day of compete control she has a press conference and introduces a GM whose name isn't Brown or Blackburn, then you'll have my attention. Then again, didn't she rip the sign out of the hands of some Bengal fans dissing her daddy in Dallas a decade or so ago? Sounds a little thin-skinned to me. We may trade one set of problems with Mike for a whole new set wit her.
RE: Mike Brown Revealed (from 2009) - THE PISTONS - 09-28-2017
It's interesting that Knowlton the other owner was criticizing how MB was doing things.
So what do the Bengals do? Change? No. The Bengals buy up all the other shares of stock and continue to do things the same way.
If this article doesn't prove that the Bengals are ran cheaply to make a profit with winning secondary...I don't know what will.
RE: Mike Brown Revealed (from 2009) - oncemoreuntothejimbreech - 09-28-2017
(09-28-2017, 10:02 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: It's interesting that Knowlton the other owner was criticizing how MB was doing things.
So what do the Bengals do? Change? No. The Bengals buy up all the other shares of stock and continue to do things the same way.
If this article doesn't prove that the Bengals are ran cheaply to make a profit with winning secondary...I don't know what will.
Ironic Knowlton complained the Brown's contracts were excessive considering their history with player contracts although I'm not surprised.