Titans’ ownership will remain in Adams family
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 percent share with the other 50 percent 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 onethird share of the franchise and a third of KSA Industries.
The other third was divided in three 11 percent 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 percent and the remaining third was split among their late brother’s family.
The family installed Adams Strunk as controlling owner in 2015.