Reinsdorf, Jerry

Jerry Reinsdorf, (born February 25, 1936, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.), American lawyer and businessman who was the majority owner of the Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox sports franchises.

After graduating from George Washington University (B.A., 1957) and from Northwestern University Law School (1960), Reinsdorf became a lawyer for the Internal Revenue Service. In 1973 he cofounded Balcor Co., one of the country’s first firms to specialize in real-estate partnerships. After it became a huge success, he sold it to American Express for $53 million in 1982; he eventually left the company in 1987.

In 1981 Reinsdorf acted on his lifetime of sports fandom and purchased Major League Baseball’s White Sox. He helped transform the White Sox into division champions by 1983. The team’s achievements under Reinsdorf compelled him to look to expand his holdings, and in 1985 he led a group that bought the Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His ownership of the Bulls was even more fruitful, as the team won three consecutive NBA championships from 1991 to 1993 and featured superstar guard Michael Jordan, whose presence greatly helped to make the Bulls one of the most profitable franchises in all sports at the time.

Reinsdorf emerged in 1992 as one of the most persuasive owners in baseball, spearheading the replacement of baseball commissioner Fay Vincent with ally Bud Selig, owner of the Milwaukee Brewers. Reinsdorf was also an influential owner in the NBA. Over the wishes of the league in the early 1990s, he secured a lucrative television contract for the Bulls with the Chicago-based superstation WGN.

Despite his teams’ successes, Reinsdorf was often vilified by fans for his laserlike focus on the economic bottom line. In 1988, threatening to relocate the White Sox to St. Petersburg, Florida, he persuaded Illinois politicians to help finance a new stadium, thus allowing him to tear down Comiskey Park. The new publicly funded Comiskey Park (now known as Guaranteed Rate Field), which opened in 1991, was subsidized by taxpayers and contained a large number of premium-priced seats. Similarly, in 1994 Reinsdorf unveiled the new United Center to replace Chicago Stadium—another iconic Chicago sports arena—for the Bulls. Later that year, when players of Major League Baseball went on strike, Reinsdorf came under fire as one of the most powerful representatives of baseball’s 28-team ownership bloc, who precipitated the strike with their proposal for a cap on players’ salaries and for revenue-sharing that would aid ball clubs in smaller media markets.

Reinsdorf drew additional criticism from Chicago fans in 1998 when—after the Bulls again won three straight NBA titles (1996–98)—the long-acrimonious relationship between head coach Phil Jackson and Bulls management (which Reinsdorf supported) came to a head and Jackson left the team, precipitating a second retirement by Jordan. In addition, team management traded away star forward Scottie Pippen and let leading rebounder Dennis Rodman leave in free agency, and for the next six years the Bulls were one of the worst teams in the league.

Chicago’s love-hate relationship with Reinsdorf took yet another dramatic swing in 2005, when the Bulls returned to the playoffs after an absence of six seasons and the White Sox won their first World Series title in 88 years. Upon the White Sox’ win, Reinsdorf became the second owner to have teams in two different North American sports win world championships.

The Bulls gradually improved in the early 21st century, but the team never came close to its earlier dominance, as it advanced to the Eastern Conference finals just once (a loss in 2011) since Jordan left the team. The White Sox similarly struggled after the team’s most recent championship, making only one playoff appearance since the 2005 season.