Super Bowl XXXVII

Glazers have one concern: winning it all

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© St. Petersburg Times
published January 24, 2003

		[Times photo: Jim Damaske]
		"(Making the playoffs) isn't good enough," Bryan Glazer said. "Our goal should be to win the Super Bowl and nothing else."

They were guarded. They were distant. They were cliquish. There wasn't anything warm, friendly, inviting about them. They were neither diplomats, politicians nor native sons. They could be cold, closed, cautious. At times, they were polygraphically challenged.

Today, however, as the Tampa Bay Bucs prepare to play for the championship of the NFL, it bears repeating.

The Glazer boys sure are different than most sports owners.

They're better.

The glow of success has cast a new light on the owners of the Bucs, from Malcolm to sons Bryan, Ed and Joel, the executive vice presidents of the team. Reaching the Super Bowl has won over the staunchest of their critics. The time has come to praise the Glaze.

Secretive? No, they're smart. Ruthless? No, they're demanding. Clannish? No, they're just a close family.

Most of all, it is time to acknowledge this about the Glazers:

As a group, they are simply eaten up with the desire to win.

Isn't that what you want from the owner of a franchise? Someone who desperately, obsessively wants to stand on top of the mountain? Someone who will pay the bills without pause, without questions, without nine calls to nine accountants?

If so, the Glazers are for you. Just win, father and baby, baby, baby.

"You judge ownership by wins and losses," general manager Rich McKay said. "I don't know how you could define them as anything but as good as it gets. I don't remember ever hearing the word "no' from them. They may say, "Tell me that again' or "Tell me why.' But "no' is not in their vocabulary."

If any franchise should recognize what an infusion of cash and competitiveness can do in the owner's box, it is the Bucs. For years, former owner Hugh Culverhouse spent very little and lost very often. Culverhouse was among the league leaders in profits, but none of it trickled down to his team.

That has changed. The Glazers, obviously, are aware that payroll is a cousin to performance. Time after time, they've spent the money necessary to improve their team.

"I just think you want an owner who wants to win," Bryan Glazer said Thursday. "It comes down to that. Winning at all costs. Just getting there is not enough. People from the outside say that making the playoffs should be good enough. It isn't good enough. Our goal should be to win the Super Bowl and nothing else.

"If that's the case, if you're just trying to be a decent team, I don't think the fans are getting their money's worth."

No matter what else you have thought of the Glazers over their time in Tampa Bay, whether you are still upset over the stadium wars, whether you are still irked by Tony Dungy's firing or the ensuing coaching pursuit, that much has been clear. The Glazers need to win. They'll lessen the profits to do so.

Go back to 1999. The Bucs had reached the NFC Championship Game, and the fans were happy. No one would have complained had the Bucs raised prices, sat back and watched the profits roll in. Instead, the Glazers went out and paid a lot of money (an eight-year, $56-million contract with a $13-million signing bonus) for wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson.

The next year, the Bucs lost to the Eagles in the first round. Still, it could have been explained away. A missed field goal against the Packers cost the team a first-round bye and a game at home. Some owners would have kept a pat hand. Instead, the Glazers ponied up for quarterback Brad Johnson (five years, $28-million with a $6.5-million signing bonus) and defensive end Simeon Rice (five years, $34-million).

Last year, the Bucs lost again to the Eagles. But they had made four playoffs in five years and, for most owners, that would have been enough. Instead, they fired Dungy. After Bill Parcells backed out as coach, a few weeks later, they traded two first-round picks, two seconds and $8-million of profit for Jon Gruden.

"We were sold out," Bryan conceded. "We didn't have to do anything. But we have a thirst to win. We're going to add the pieces we need to add. I don't think you can operate any other way."

Counting the $192-million purchase price, counting eight seasons scraping the top of the salary cap, counting coaches salaries and signing bonuses and facility improvements, the Glazers have spent in excess of three-quarters of a billion dollars since taking over the Bucs. Even consider the price of scalping, that's a lot to pay for Super Bowl tickets.

Bryan shrugged. He grinned.

"What's three-quarters of a billion dollars compared to a Super Bowl championship?" he said.

Three days before the Super Bowl, Glazer sat in a simple room at the team hotel in La Jolla. This is the one thing he would like you to know about the Glazers.

That they want to win.

"For those three hours when the game is going on, we're fans," he said. "We're not businessmen. People should trust our decisions. We have a plan, a focus."

These days, the Glazers also have smiles. As you might imagine, this is a big week for them. If they wanted, they could swagger a little. The ends have justified the means. Their decision to replace coaches has paid off, and when you get down to it, doesn't everyone want to feel vindicated?

There is a touch of that, Bryan admitted. Mostly, there is the rush of reaching the Super Bowl.

"I want to win this more than anything in life," Bryan said.

In other words, Al Davis has a heck of a matchup on his hands Sunday. He's surrounded.

There are similarities between Davis and Glazers. Both are tough negotiators, competitive owners, and both have an air of mystery. The Glazers have owned the Bucs for the better part of a decade, but they still aren't well known.

"Absolutely," Bryan said when asked if he saw similarities to Davis. "He does things that a lot of people don't think make sense when he does them, but he's always been successful. How can you argue with his track record? He's been to five Super Bowls out of 37. That isn't bad."

The truth be told, the Glazers want to win more than one Super Bowl, too. They would like Sunday to be the start.

"We want to stay on top," Bryan said. "We want to be one of those teams like the ones we look back on, the Cowboys, the Steelers, the Raiders, the Dolphins, the 49ers. I want us to be that type of team for the young people of today. There have only been a handful of those. Getting to the Super Bowl is great, but you don't get to be one of those teams unless you win."

And as owners? Do the Glazers wish to be embraced in the manner of other owners such as the Hunts, the Rooneys, the Maras?

Bryan looks out the window for a moment.

"That would be nice," he said.