Who Is Stephen Ross, the Miami Dolphins Owner Suspended by the NFL?

(Bloomberg) -- Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has been suspended by the National Football League after an investigator found the team violated the league’s anti-tampering rule by trying to lure quarterback Tom Brady and former head coach Sean Payton.

Ross will be suspended through Oct. 17 and won’t be allowed at the team’s facility, nor can he represent the club at any team or league event. Ross also has to pay a fine of $1.5 million and will be removed from all the league committees indefinitely. The Dolphins will also forfeit its first-round draft pick in 2023 and third-round pick in 2024.

“With regards to tampering, I strongly disagree with the conclusions and the punishment,” Ross said in a statement. “However, I will accept the outcome because the most important thing is that there be no distractions for our team as we begin an exciting and winning season.”

Prominent Landlord

Ross, 82, is the billionaire founder of Related Cos., the New York-based developer behind projects like Hudson Yards on the far west side of Manhattan, the Square in downtown West Palm Beach and the Grand LA in Los Angeles.

As a prominent landlord, Ross has been vocal about the need for companies to bring workers back to the office. In an interview with Bloomberg in June, he said a recession could drive more people back to buildings.

Real Estate Billionaire

Ross has a net worth of roughly $8.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The real estate mogul is active in New York’s political scene and last year said he was raising tens of millions of dollars to turn out voters for the mayoral Democratic primary. He’s also donated more than $300 million to the University of Michigan, his alma mater.

Sports Investments

Ross has also spent millions to create a profitable soccer business in the US. He owns Relevent Sports Group, which has been presenting the International Champions Cup since 2013, a friendly pre-season competition between top European soccer clubs played in American stadiums.

Earlier this year, Relevent won the right to broker UEFA’s US medial deals. Last year, it sold rights to La Liga, Spain’s top soccer league, to ESPN for $1.4 billion over eight years.

Other Allegations

The Dolphins investigation findings come six months after former head coach Brian Flores filed a federal suit, claiming that Ross had sought to incentivize him to deliberately lose games to improve its standing in the college draft. The investigator, former US Attorney Mary Jo White, found no evidence of this.

“The independent investigation cleared our organization on any issues related to tanking and all of Brian Flores other allegations,” Ross said in the statement. “As I have said all along, these allegations were false, malicious and defamatory, and this issue is now put to rest.

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Author: Natalie Wong