More Change at Top for Eagles?
Philly.com, Inquirer, and Daily News coverage of the Eagles
More Change at Top for Eagles?
Les Bowen
I'm very surprised that Jeffrey and Christina Lurie are divorcing, but that's how it nearly always is, really -- other than Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, when was the last time you heard of a couple splitting up and thought "hey, I figured that was coming"?
Marriages don't usually play out in public. Most couples are good at seeming happy to strangers, acquaintances, even close friends. I have no idea what happened with the Luries, and I figure that's their business. I won't be delving into it.
But I will be delving into what this means for the Eagles, which is everybody's business. In the statements that were released Wednesday evening -- letting everyone know late on a national holiday absolutely was an attempt to control fallout, of course -- the couple kept stressing how the operation of the franchise would be unaffected. That's at odds, frankly, with the organization's longstanding stance about how integral Christina Lurie has been to the nonfootball aspects of the team. A 2010 Inquirer profile detailed how Christina spurned a "wives' afternoon" at the NFL owners' meetings to sit in on the business session, and quoted NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on her prominence in such ventures as the "Go Green" enviornmental initiative.
But of course, according to those statements, the Luries will remain partners in the running of the Eagles, just not in marriage. Maybe so. Sounds kinda tricky to me. This is something reporters will be watching closely. Funny how this intensely private couple, who would never even talk about their home or their kids to reporters, or divulge the children's names, have done the one thing that will now turn a bright spotlight on their relationship.
Those fervent "everything is fine here" statements notwithstanding, we can't possibly know what this means to the Eagles yet. But I'm struck by the coincidence of a second huge, behind-the-scenes change, less than a month after the announced departure of team president Joe Banner. Of course, whatever happened between the Luries has nothing to do with what happened with Banner, or with Jeffrey Lurie's growing discomfort over how the Eagles organization is perceived by fans.
But let's dive right in here and address something sensitive. (This is the sort of paragraph that ensures I will never be an organizational confidante. And I'm OK with that.) Christina Lurie, with that hard-to-place French/Spanish/whatever accent, with the Vera Wang ideas and the high-minded philanthropic focus, was and is about as unPhilly as you could possibly get. Jeffrey is unPhilly too -- wealthy guy from the Boston suburbs -- but he at least is approachable, will at least nod in agreement in a discussion of, say, the ubiquity of Pete Retzlaff in mid-60s packs of football bubblegum cards. Christina has always seemed to me to be, if not a visitor from another planet, certainly a visitor from another culture, observing ours through gritted teeth. I've covered the team 10 years now, and never had a one-on-one conversation with her, never done more than exchanged mild pleasantries in a group setting.
So, does this divorce announcement make the Eagles less hoity-toity, in any way? The main question I got on Twitter Wednesday night was whether the Eagles would now go back to their traditional kelly green, the color Christina famously disliked. She always portrayed it as both of them dislking it and preferring the midnight green she chose. Maybe now we'll know.
But Eagles fans will be lucky if something like uniform color turns out to be the biggest change resulting from this divorce. The kind of setup the Luries detailed in their message to team employees Wednesday night seems difficult to maintain, even with the best of intentions.
The "non football" part of running a football team is like the "non money" part of running a bank.— Bobphxville- Happy as Partners in running the Eagles? FUHGEDDABOUDIT !! Shortly they'll be in court arguing over the marital assets which include the team. It may not be as messy as the Leonard Tose breakup but it won't be easy.— 1republican
- I went to a see a football game, and a Dodgers game unfolded.— tommy_the_k
- Yeah, the recent Dodgers divorce saga is the first thing I thought of. Then I wondered who Jeffrey is going to pal around with now that he's lost Banner and Christina. Weird and sad. Joking aside, hope all works out for those involved as much as possible.— frankenslade
She honestly does have the weirdest accent I've ever heard, it almost sounds like she has a speech impediment. It was interesting to me to learn her father was actually a wealthy mineral rights owner from Philadelphia and she was born and raised in Mexico.- She might have seemed distant to the reporters, but that could have meant she valued her privacy. She has done a good charity job on behave of the team. And what's with the "unPhilly" comment? But then again, an intelligent, rich woman, who mastered foreign languages does seem "foreign" to Philadelphia, where Ebonics prevails, where shuts are fired during 4th of July celebration (and any other day of the year), where "blue collar" seems to mean union thugs (and we break your legs if you disagree with us). Hey, we can complain about the team as much as we want - we, as fans, responsible for most of the team's revenue. But do we have right to question Lurie's private life? I'd say hell no. Non of our business.— hollandpa
- I was thinking the same thing. I have never once seen or met Jeffrey Lurie in a public situation(Nickles was everywhere) but over the years I have met Christina numerous times. She is all over the town out and about living in the city. She has a lot of Philly friends and frequents Philly stores to do her shopping. She is 10x more Philly than Jeffrey. Philly has a quite large sophisticated educated population in Center City and especially ex-pats from France, spain and Germany. Philly also is the home to a very vibrant class of philanthropist. We have a top 5 in the world orchestra and a top 5 museum presence with The Big one, the Rodin and the Barnes. Les you need to get out more and stop considering Philly to be the lowlifes that call into WIP. With all of that being said, the Eagles wear Midnight Teal not green and its horrendous. Throw in that stupid mechanical looking Eagle logo and you have to wonder why on Earth the Eagles copied the Seahawks style. Kelly green or bust. It does point out how out of touch with the fans Lurie is and how much he doesn't care. Fans would vote Kelly green over the current colors 99 out of 100 yet... — UncleStosh
- must be a slow news day ...— petergou
- Perhaps there is a connection between Joe Banner leaving and the divorce. I'm sure Lurie and perhaps Banner too were aware of the pending divorce when Banner left his position. Maybe the team will be put up for sale, maybe Lurie was giving his buddy Banner an early out to seek another team. Maybe Banner is preparing ground for the next Lurie/Banner project. There sure appears to be more here than meets the eye.— Carlos2
- maybe Banner buys the team as a result of the divorce. — coloradoeagle
- Agree, moving his good friend Joe Banner out had to be the first of multiple steps that Lurie and Banner devised. Now you see the second step, the divorce. What is next? Sale? Move? — Taser
- Christina Lurie got her seff liberation wish on the 4th of July. 2012— phillafuN
- presuming the eagles are worth a billion - give or take, me wonders if Jeffie has an extra half a bill lying about to buy out his "non-football" partner. or vice versa. I somehow kinda doubt it. Details, details, details.— defg0003
- I've been an Eagles fan for almost fifty years now, and I have to say that despite the tradition behind the old kelly green uniforms, I like the midnight green much better. If that's Christina Lurie's legacy to the Eagles, fine. I definitely don't want to go back to the old colors.
- Couldn't disagree more. The Eagles' heritage is kelly green. Check out images of the Eagles on opening day a year ago when they wore the traditional colors. No contest. I guess you never noticed the two dozen versions of "midnight green" that abound at games. More like midnight green/blue. Have the Packers changed their core colors? The Giants? The Bears? Tradition means something and it's time to put that hideous color into the trash. It's the first thing Jeffrey should do, even if it's vengeful. I'll respect him for it.
