Before the Tennessee Titans kicked off their NFL season with a home game against the New York Giants on September 11, team owner Amy Adams Strunk spent nearly two hours with tailgaters outside Nashville’s Nissan Stadium. “Omigod, it’s her,” one young woman shouted, before asking for the requisite photos.
The fans, Adams Strunk says, are her favorite part of owning the team, which her late father Bud Adams founded (as the Houston Oilers in 1960) and of which she has been the controlling shareholder since 2015. “Our fans, to me, are not a statistic,” she says. “I’m going to be the owner that comes up to you and thanks you.”
At 66, Adams Strunk is worth $1.6 billion from her 50% stake in the Titans and is one of a growing number of women who own NFL teams: 18 of the league’s 32 franchises are at least partially female-owned, with 10 listing women as majority owners or co-owners. Most inherited teams from their fathers, brothers or husbands—or, like the Buffalo Bills’ Kim Pegula and the Cleveland Browns’ Dee Haslam, bought into them with their husbands.
But there are signs of change—this summer, Ariel Investments’ Mellody Hobson bought a 5.5% stake in the Denver Broncos for $245 million as part of the Waltons’ ownership group that also brought in Carrie Walton Penner, granddaughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, with a 30% stake.
“Fifty percent of our fans are women,” says Adams Strunk, who is known as “Mom” to the Titans’ faithful. “Even though we’ve never played the game, that doesn’t mean we don’t know the game. And we have some unique perspectives on reaching women that we can bring to the table.”
While some female owners who inherited NFL teams are hands-off, Adams Strunk not only runs the Titans but has also delivered a stunning turnaround. Since 2016, the squad has had six winning seasons. More important, she helped bring the NFL draft to Nashville three years ago and has high hopes for the city to host a Super Bowl.
