Ownership of the Tennessee Titans is remaining with the Adams family with Susie Adams Smith agreeing to sell her share of the team to the family-controlled KSA Industries Inc.
Amy Adams Strunk will hold a 50% share with the other 50% held by Kenneth Adams IV, Barclay Adams and Susan Lewis. Those three will continue as owners of the Titans with Adams Strunk continuing as controlling owner in a sale expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Financial details of the sale were not available.
The sale requires league approval and is expected to be on the agenda of Wednesday’s NFL owners meeting.
”The Titans franchise has meant so much to me and my family over the 61 years of its existence,” Adams Strunk said in a statement to The Associated Press.
”With this transaction, we are pleased to ensure that the legacy started by my father will continue in our family. We are thrilled to make this commitment and will continue to invest in our team’s future growth and success. Our belief in what lies ahead for this team is unwavering and we are eager to see it unfold.”
Adams Strunk announced in August 2017 that her sister had started the process of selling her portion of KSA Industries, which includes the Titans.
When Bud Adams died in 2013, his estate was placed into a trust and divided between his two daughters, Amy and Susie, with each receiving a one-third share of the franchise and a third of KSA Industries. The other third was divided in three 11% shares to the widow and sons of Bud Adams’ late son, Kenneth Adams III.
Initially, after Bud Adams’ death, the family installed Susie Adams Smith as controlling owner and made her husband Tommy Smith team president. The NFL fined the Titans for the ownership structure not conforming to the league’s majority ownership rules in 2016, when the sisters each controlled 33% and the remaining third was split among their late brother’s family.
The family installed Adams Strunk as controlling owner in 2015, brought back Steve Underwood from retirement to take over as team president and the Smiths were moved aside except for Susie Smith retaining one-third ownership in the franchise.
Adams Strunk fired Ken Whisenhunt in November 2015 and fired Mike Mularkey in January 2018 after the Titans’ first playoff berth since 2008 when Tennessee reached the divisional round. She hired current general manager Jon Robinson and hired coach Mike Vrabel a week after firing Mularkey.
Vrabel coached the Titans last season to their first AFC championship in 17 years. The Titans currently are 8-4 and sit atop the AFC South with the tiebreaker over Indianapolis, trying to win their first division title since 2008. They are a win shy of their fifth straight winning season.
The Titans, under Adams Strunk’s leadership, also helped Nashville bid’s to host the 2019 NFL draft, which smashed the league’s previous attendance record by drawing more than 600,000 to Music City.
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Follow Teresa M. Walker at https://twitter.com/TeresaMWalker
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More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP-NFL
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