Measuring current trust in Detroit Lions owner, Martha Firestone Ford
Conclusions about Martha Ford
When judging the ownership and their statements to fans versus the results on the field, one can only consider a limited amount of conclusions about them.
One conclusion that stuck about WCF was that he only cared about making money. That is still a plausible possibility about the current owner. Given her efforts, though, it seems unlikely that she doesn’t care or is strictly concerned with revenue.
However, it is likely that in lieu of specific football knowledge, many Ford family members do understand accounting and realize that the business is successful monetarily, and may equate that to being successful as a franchise.
Next, we might conclude that perhaps Mrs. Ford is delusional, misinformed, or just ignorant of how to provide good leadership and she genuinely thinks that she and her people are doing a good job. You have to admit that surrounding yourself with yes-men (and women) as many powerful people do, isn’t a recipe for quality self-reflection.
Her daughter, Sheila Ford Hamp is also heavily involved along with Rod Wood, who is an investment buddy who has been managing the Ford fortune for years; he’s not exactly going to try to derail that gravy train and Sheila is set to inherit some of the $1.4 billion dollars of her mother’s fortune, which doesn’t count the value of the Lions which is estimated at $2.0 billion dollars on its own, (Forbes estimates).
Lastly, the option exists that she knows that the Detroit Lions are not getting better but cannot tell the truth because of her personal interest in her reputation, pride, comfort, or wealth. She may wish to fix things but lack the courage or conviction to put the Detroit Lions winning titles above her interest in protecting the Ford name, or various other conflicting desires in her mind.
We did leave out combination answers but you get the idea.
You have to decide if the poor results are the product of calculated greed, ignorant delusion, or conflicting interests between her money and the Lions’ title aspirations.