The 26-Year-Old Who Brought The Saints And Almost Ruined the League: John Mecom Jr

In 1966, the NFL shocked the sports world when it handed the keys to its newest franchise, the New Orleans Saints, to a 26-year-old oil heir named John Mecom Jr. At the time, he became the youngest owner in league history. What followed was a chaotic experiment that nearly destabilized the league—and ultimately changed how the NFL selects its owners forever.

A Bid Born from Oil Money and Politics

Mecom wasn’t a self-made businessman. His fortune came from his family’s oil empire and his deep political connections. With the NFL and rival AFL locked in a bitter battle for dominance, New Orleans was seen as a crucial market to win political support for a merger. The league promised the city a franchise, and when Mecom came forward with a record $8.5 million bid—outbidding the next closest offer by $1.5 million—he was handed the team with virtually no vetting.

Building a Team Overnight

The problem? Mecom had less than 10 months to build an entire organization from scratch. That meant finding a head coach, establishing training facilities, hiring staff, and assembling a roster of more than 40 players before the Saints could even take the field. Predictably, the results were rough.

The Saints’ debut season ended with a 3–11 record. Still, New Orleans fans, thrilled simply to have football in their city, remained fiercely loyal. But beneath the surface, Mecom’s ownership was already sinking under the weight of poor management and mounting debt.

The Oil Bust and Financial Trouble

When the oil crisis hit in the 1970s, Mecom’s personal wealth collapsed. He struggled to finance the team, and whispers grew among NFL owners that the league had made a mistake. Eventually, the pressure became too great. In 1985, after nearly two decades of frustration, Mecom sold the Saints for a record $70 million.

A Legacy That Changed the League

Mecom’s troubled tenure left a permanent mark on NFL ownership rules. Not long after his departure, the league introduced strict financial safeguards to prevent another such fiasco. Today, NFL owners must meet strict debt limits—currently capped at $1.1 billion—and have at least 30 percent of the purchase price in cash.

The result: unless you’re a billionaire, you will never own an NFL team.

John Mecom Jr. may have been a young visionary to some, a reckless heir to others, but his turbulent years as Saints owner reshaped the business of professional football forever.