NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Titans confirmed Bloomberg's report that one-third of The Tennessee Titans is for sale and would be part of a purchase of shares of KSA Industries, the team's parent company.
Susie Adams Smith wants out. She owns a third of the team as does her sister, Amy Adams Strunk, who is the controlling owner. Kenneth Adams, the grandson of deceased founding owner Bud Adams, owns 11 percent of the team, as does his brother, Barclay Adams, and their mother, Susan Lewis.
“Recently Susie (Smith) began the process of selling her portion of KSA Industries, which includes a fractional indirect interest in the Tennessee Titans," Strunk said in a team issued statement. "We respect her right to make this decision and will cooperate fully with the process, which will not impact team operations in any way.
"Regardless of the outcome of this process, I will continue to serve as the controlling owner of the Titans. The remaining two-thirds of the team controlled by myself, Kenneth Adams IV, Barclay Adams and Susan Lewis is not and has never been for sale."
"Both personally and as a group, we have invested time, effort and capital to improve this franchise and we are excited to see the results on and off the field for years to come.”
Strunk could become the majority owner with just one more percent of the team. But it seems she and her sister do not get along. It would be a huge outlay of cash for Strunk to buy her sister's stake and if such a deal could be struck it probably would have happened already.
The Titans maintain they are not in violation of any NFL policy. But the league levied a six-figure fine in 2016 for the franchise's failure to comply with ownership rules, which it believes dictates one person must be in control as the result of being majority owner.
Smith's husband, Tommy Smith, ran the team after Bud Adams died on Oct. 21, 2013. Tommy Smith's tenure qualified as a fiasco, and the rest of the group worked together to oust him and replace him with Strunk in March of 2015.
She has settled down a franchise that was in free-fall, firing coach Ken Whisenhunt and letting general mangaer Ruston Webster's contract expire, hiring Mike Mularkey and Jon Robinson as her management team.
The team has upgraded Nissan Stadium and remodeled the bulk of its headquarters under her leadership.
A buyer would also get a third of an almond farm, a car dealership and a ranch as well as part of an energy company. If the sale happens, the buyer would be the first outsider to own a piece of the franchise in its history. Bud Adams founded the Houston Oilers in 1960.
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