A Modern Debacle: The York Family’s Ownership of the San Francisco 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers have spent the last 15 season under the ownership of the York family. And the wide majority of that tenure has been filled with disappointment, controversy and discontent.

San Francisco 49ers fans know the story behind former owner, and soon-to-be Hall of Famer, Eddie DeBartolo Jr. and the legal troubles which forced him to sell the team to his sister Denise DeBartolo York just ahead of the 2000 season.

And almost nothing has been the same since.

Prior to that transaction, the Niners were one of the premier teams in all of professional sports. They had won five Super Bowls — a then-NFL record. San Francisco had boasted a plethora of Hall of Fame players, records and storybook moments.

Since the Yorks took over, the 49ers have had one brief stretch between 2011 and 2014 in which they somewhat resembled the glory years. And aside from a few asterisks and footnotes, the Niners between 2000 and 2015 have been an overwhelming embarrassment.

How sad.

This comes with the latest array of 49ers’ front-office news regarding yet more controversy with their own players. Quarterback Colin Kaepernick reportedly wants a trade despite new head coach Chip Kelly and general manager Trent Baalke saying otherwise.

CEO Jed York danced around the issue when he spoke with the San Jose Mercury News‘ Marc Purdy last week, which tells us nothing and everything we need to know.

Just another case of “huh?” and “what?” from this Niner franchise — a team that once was the envy of the National Football League.

To be fair, it would be impossible to expect the York family to live up to what DeBartolo did with the franchise during his 20-plus years running the franchise. There’s a reason DeBartolo is Canton-bound. Although one shouldn’t forget the 49ers’ former owner went through his own disastrous stretch with the team during the late 1970s.

Still, any way one looks at the York’s ownership won’t come out favorably. Let’s simply start with the statistics:

Tenure of Ownership: 2000-present

Overall Regular-Season Record: 123-132-1

No. of Playoff Appearances: 5

No. of Head Coaches: 8 (Jim Tomsula twice)

San Francisco has a sub-.500 record during the York’s tenure. And those numbers would have been abysmal had it not been for the continuing of success the Niners enjoyed under former head coach Steve Mariucci and the brief run of dominance with former head coach Jim Harbaugh.

Yet Mariucci and Harbaugh both saw their tenures come to a close thanks to disagreements with the York family and front office — Mariucci with former CEO John York and Harbaugh with Jed York and Baalke.

So much for trying to keep a good thing going.

Remember, the elder York was the primary person responsible for bringing in former head coach Dennis Erickson, who oversaw the 49ers’ worst season since 1979 — years in which the team posted a 2-14 record. So it shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise when Jed York was named the team’s president in 2009. During the time in between, the 49ers didn’t exactly make much headway.

York could have been the architect of turning things around with this once-proud franchise. Well, he did make strides getting the 49ers a new stadium. Perhaps the new Santa Clara venue was his No. 1 priority. With that booming cash cow, the York family was even more capable of cashing in on the NFL enterprise.

The hiring of Harbaugh seemed to be the final piece to make the previous decade go away. And three seasons in which the team reached the NFC Championship game would suggest the Niners had turned the page.

But even that wouldn’t last. No, the York family couldn’t let that happen.

And so fans were left with Tomsula — a favorite within the York family and someone not capable of effectively coaching an NFL franchise. The move, like so many others made by this family, didn’t make sense at the time. And it doesn’t make sense now.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise to see York the target of fans’ wrath and frustration.

And the fans in attendance… or not.

Amidst all of that existed a culture of media leaks and rumors. Rumors surrounding Harbaugh’s future, Kaepernick’s scapegoat-ism and a flurry of other stories and tales.

There was the quick anger directed at former team president Paraag Marathe, who was removed from his position at the end of 2015 only to find himself the “team’s chief strategy officer and executive vice president of football operations” shortly thereafter. Hardly a demotion. Merely a quick act to appease the fans.

York tried to say the right things after Tomsula was fired at the tail end of the 2015 season. And he made it clear his family (his mother actually owns the team, by the way) wasn’t going to sell the franchise.

“My family owned this team before I was born,” York said, via Al Saracevic of SFGate.com. “They’ll own the team after I’m gone.”

So that’s where the 49ers franchise now stands. San Francisco has a divisive, controversial head coach as well as a former star quarterback who no longer wants to be with the team. The fan base, while remaining passionate, is frustrated and upset.

And things don’t look to be changing anytime soon.

Ultimately, the York’s ownership of the 49ers has been troublesome at best and disastrous at worst. Take away some brief stretches, and the Niners would reign as one of the most dysfunctional franchises of the past 15-plus years.

It all points to the top.

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Fans should hope York’s words are serious. Perhaps he does share the same sort of concern and frustration echoed by the hundreds of thousands of fans calling themselves “the Faithful.” Only York is in a position to receive the frustration and criticism. As he should.

But the only thing that matters is what will be done to redress it.

Sadly, no one seems to have any clue.

Next: Where Are You Now, Jed York? Where Are You Now?

All statistics, records and accolades courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com unless otherwise indicated.