Jeffrey Lurie, Philadelphia Eagles
JEFFREY LURIE | CHAIRMAN, CEO | AGE: 66
Education: Clark University, Boston University (M.S.) Brandeis University (Ph.D)
How They Acquired the Franchise: Lurie purchased the team from Norman Braman for $185 million in 1994. Prior to buying the Eagles, Lurie had explored buying the Patriots and Rams and was a potential investor in a bid for a Baltimore expansion franchise.
Net Worth: $2 billion (per Forbes in 2018)
Franchise Valuation: $2.65 billion (per Forbes in 2017)
How They Made Their Money: Lurie’s grandfather founded the General Cinema Corporation, which began as a movie theater chain and evolved into Harcourt General Inc., a multi-billion dollar conglomerate. In 1983, Lurie took an executive role at the company. Two years later, he went out on his own, starting his own production company, Chestnut Hill Productions.
In the Owner’s Words: In discussing the anthem protests, Lurie said, “Social injustice is a big problem in America. It's a big problem around the globe. Anybody who wants to do proactive things to try to reverse social injustice, I’m all in favor of. It has to be respectful. It certainly has to respect the military and the men and women who serve our country. Emergency responders. Whoever that is. If you do it in a respectful way.
“I applaud anybody that can find respectful ways of trying to find their platform in some way. … Players have grit and determination, there's no boundary on how that grit and determination gets expressed. Sports is an opportunity to bring people together. I applaud when players can bring communities together.”
Political Donations: Lurie and his wife, Tina, have been primarily Democratic donors. Notable contributions include: $15K to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee between 2006-07; $25K to the Philadelphia 2016 Host Committee, a committee aligned with the Democratic National Convention, in ’14; and $10K to the DNC in 1998. Lurie, has donated to Republicans, as well, including $2K to the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2003, $1K to Rudy Guliani in 2000 and $1K to Rick Santorum in 1998.
NFL Committees: Super Bowl & Major Events Advisory Committee, International Committee, Finance Committee, Media Committee.
Next in Line: While none of the Lurie family are directly involved with the Eagles, Jeffrey’s son Julian is currently in the NFL Junior Rotational Program.
