How to Bet on the Philadelphia Eagles Online in 2024

Eagles Ownership

Jeffrey Lurie: (1994 – Present)

Jeffrey Lurie is the grandson of Philip Smith, who founded the immensely
successful General Cinema Corporation. In addition to being one of the largest
drive-in movie theater chains, General Cinema became a massive conglomerate,
owning publishing houses, bottling franchises, insurance companies, and more.
Jeffrey was eventually given an executive role in the corporation, before
founding Chestnut Hills Productions in 1985.

Lurie’s incredibly successful career as a Hollywood producer afforded him the
opportunity to buy the Philadelphia Eagles in 1994. The first-ever executive
producer paid $195 million to acquire the organization from Norman Braman, $190
of which was leveraged from the Bank of Boston. Today, the investment is valued
at $2.8 billion. In 2018, Lurie’s Eagles upset the New England Patriots, his
favorite team growing up, to win their first Super Bowl.

Norman Braman (1985 – 1994)

Norman Braman and Ed Leibowitz, his brother-in-law, bought the Eagles for $65
million in 1985, allowing Leonard Tose to pay off his $25 million gambling debt
owed to Atlantic City casinos. Braman owned the controlling stake with 65% of
the team, and in 1986, purchased the remaining 35% from Leibowitz.

Braman’s time in charge was a moderately successful period for the Eagles
franchise. They won the NFC East championship in 1988 and made the playoffs in
’89, ’90, and ’92. Norman’s tenure came to an end in 1994, when Jeffrey Lurie
made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Braman sold the Eagles for $195 million,
earning a $130 million profit in under a decade.

Leonard Tose: (1969 – 1985)

Leonard Tose first owned a small share in the Philadelphia Eagles as one of
the “Happy Hundred.” A lifelong fan of the team, Tose assembled his own group of
investors and tried to purchase the franchise from Clark’s syndicate in 1956 but
was denied. After receiving over $60,000 from his earlier investment in the sale
to Wolman, he’d get another shot at ownership in 1969.

Tose paid over $16 simmillion for the Eagles, setting a record for the
purchase price of a professional sports franchise at the time. It was Leonard
Tose who hired Dick Vermeil to coach the team in 1976, who reached the Super
Bowl in 1980. Philly lost to the Raiders, but it was an improvement on the
stretch from 1962-1975 when the organization only experienced one winning
season. Finally, in 1985, Tose was forced to sell the Eagles to pay off his
extraordinary gambling debts in Atlantic City.

Jerry Wolman: (1963 – 1969)

Jerry Wolman was a Washington DC land developer who grew up in Shenandoah,
Pennsylvania. When he purchased the Eagles from the “Happy Hundred,” for
five-and-a-half million dollars in 1963, Wolman became the youngest NFL owner in
the league. However, his tenure as owner of the Philadelphia Eagles was
relatively short-lived.

Between 1967 and 1969, his $100 million-dollar corporation crumbled, forcing
him to sell both the Eagles and Flyers, the city’s National Hockey League
franchise. This opened the door for Leonard Tose to purchase the team, something
he had previously attempted in 1956.

The “Happy Hundred” (1949 – 1963)

The “Happy Hundred,” or “100 Brothers,” was a group of investors headed by
James P. Clark who purchased the Eagles in 1949. Clark, a trucking magnate,
collected $3,000 from each of the 100 and acquired the franchise for $250,000.
That being said, it’s been argued by some that the “Happy Hundred” story is
nothing more than a myth.

According to former Eagles QB Bill Mackrides, “It made for a good story and
headlines, but the truth is Lex Thompson sold about 60 shares to Jim Clark.
Clark had a friend who owned another 20 shares.”

Whatever the case, the purchase turned out to be an excellent investment.
When the organization was sold to Jerry Wolman in 1963, the price was
$5,505,000. Each of the remaining investors collected over $60,000, over 20
times what they initially paid.

Alexis Thompson: (1940 – 1949)

Alexis Thompson did not set out to buy the Eagles, originally. He actually
purchased the Pittsburgh Steelers from Art Rooney, who then used a portion of
his profits to obtain a significant interest in the Eagles from Bert Bell.
However, before the start of the 1941 season, the two owners decided to trade
cities.

The roster that was previously known as the Steelers moved to Philly and
became the Eagles and vice versa, so Bell’s original squad moved to Pittsburgh.
Alexis Thompson owned the franchise until they won their first championship in
1948; after which, he sold to a group of investors called the “Happy Hundred”
for $250,000, which was $90,000 more than he originally paid.

Bert Bell: (1933 – 1940)

After Philadelphia’s previous franchise, the Frankford Yellow Jackets, folded
in 1931, the NFL was searching for a new expansion team to enter the market. The
league finally awarded the newest organization to Lud Wray and Bert Bell, former
teammates at the University of Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia Eagles were born.

The Eagles played their first season in 1933, with only one player returning
from the defunct Yellow Jackets. For an entire decade, Philadelphia’s franchise
never recorded more than four wins in a season. This prompted Bell to suggest an
annual college draft, with the worst teams getting the earliest picks. The idea
was to increase parity in the NFL, and the system is still in use to this day.

Team Logos

Bald Eagle Head (1996 – Present)

In 1996, the Philadelphia Eagles underwent a significant design overhaul of
both the logo and uniforms. The team switched from kelly green to a darker shade
called “midnight green” and changed the eagle clutching a football in its talons
into a more cartoonish white bald eagle head, without a ball or the rest of the
bird’s body shown. Besides slight alterations, the logo has stayed the same ever
since.

Eagle Clutching a Football (1948 – 1995)

For almost 50 years, the Philadelphia Eagles logo was a flying eagle carrying
a football in its talons. The design was slightly altered to a more stylized
version between 1969-1972, but the basics stayed the same. For the 1969 season,
the team wore Apollo 11 flight mission patches on their jerseys due to the
similarity between the mission’s emblem and the franchise’s logo.

History of the Philadelphia Eagles