Bengals Owner Mike Brown's Net Worth Is Higher Than Most People Think
Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown is said to be one of the poorest NFL team owners in the league. What's Brown's net worth? It's higher than most people think.
Feb. 11 2022, Published 12:24 p.m. ET
Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown is known as one of the poorest NFL team owners in the league. What's Brown's net worth? It's actually higher than most people think.
Mike Brown
Owner of the Cincinnati Bengals
Net worth: Over $925 Million
Mike Brown inherited ownership of the Cincinnati Bengals from his father, who founded the franchise in 1968. When the Bengals play the LA Rams in the Super Bowl on Feb. 13, it will be the first Super Bowl the team has been in since Brown has owned it.
Age: 86
Birthplace: Massillon, Ohio
Father: Paul Brown
According to Forbes, the Bengals team alone is valued at $2.275 billion. In 2015, Brown's net worth was estimated to be $925 million. In today's dollars, that equates to about $1.09 billion. That isn't bad for the owner of a team that hasn't had much success on the field since he took over.
Super Bowl LVI is Brown's first time in the big game with the Bengals.
Brown's Bengals and famous quarterback Joe Burrow will face off with the Los Angeles Rams on Feb. 13 in the Super Bowl. It's the first time the organization has made it to the big game under Brown's leadership. The last time the Bengals were in a Super Bowl was in 1988.
Brown's father, Paul, founded the Bengals.
Brown's father, Paul Brown, would be proud of his son for getting the team to Super Bowl LVI. Paul co-founded the Bengals in 1968 and owned the team until his death in 1991. Paul was also the co-founder and first coach of another Ohio-based NFL team, the Cleveland Browns.
Needless to say, Brown grew up in a football family. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1960, Brown spent many years working by his father's side in various roles with the Bengals team. He served as the Bengals' assistant general manager and spokesperson.
When his father died in 1991, Brown stepped in as the Bengals' new owner. Brown also handles many general manager duties for the Bengals, which isn't common in the NFL.
Mike Brown is often called one of the worst NFL owners.
The road has been rocky since Brown took over. The Bengals only had eight winning seasons in the 30 years he has been at the helm. Brown was ranked as the second-worst NFL owner by Yahoo Sports in 2009 and the ninth-worst sports team owner by Rolling Stone in 2015.
When Cincinnati city officials gave into Brown's threats to move the team to Baltimore and awarded him over $1 billion to build a new stadium, The Wall Street Journal called the deal "one of the worst professional sports deals ever struck by a local government—soaking up unprecedented tax dollars and county resources while returning little economic benefit."
Mike Brown isn't a fan favorite.
Bengals fans haven't been happy with Brown's leadership either. Enraged fans started the website MikeBrownSucks.com, which states that it's "a gathering place for frustrated Bengals fans from around the world." In 2001, fans on that site and the site SaveTheBengals.com paid to have banners calling for Brown's resignation carried by plane around the Cincinnati area.
"I think (the Bengals) could win the Super Bowl every year until Mike Brown is no longer with us and the fans as a whole would still dislike Mike Brown intensely," Cincinnati Inquirer sports columnist Paul Daugherty told NPR's All Things Considered.