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NASHVILLE -- For years, the Tennessee Titans and their forerunner, the Houston Oilers, have been solely the property of one family - the Adams family. Team founder Bud Adams, one of the members of the American Football League's "Foolish Club," an original owner, held sole ownership of the team from its foundation in 1960 until his death in 2013.
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At that point, the Titans were divided up among Adams' family, his daughters Amy Adams Strunk and Susie Adams Smith each receiving a third and the remaining third split between and the widow and children of Adams' late son, Kenneth Adams III.
But now for the first time, someone else outside the family is poised to have a stake in the franchise.
Susie Adams Smith is selling her one-third stake in the Titans as well as her portion of her late father's holdings, KSA Industries.
Amy Adams Strunk, who is the team's controlling owner, issued a statement through the team's media relations department regarding her sister's decision to part with her share of the franchise.
"Recently Susie began the process of selling her portion of KSA Industries, which includes a fractional indirect interest in the Tennessee Titans," Strunk's statement said. "We respect her right to make this decision and will cooperate fully with the process, which will not impact team operations in any way.
"Regardless of the outcome of this process, I will continue to serve as the controlling owner of the Titans. The remaining two-thirds of the team controlled by myself, Kenneth Adams IV, Barclay Adams and Susan Lewis is not and has never been for sale.
"Both personally and as a group, we have invested time, effort and capital to improve the franchise and we are excited to see the results on and off the field for years to come."
When Bud Adams died, Susie Adams Smith was initially named as controlling owner, and her husband, Tommy Smith, was put in place as team president. However, Smith was sacked by the other family members in 2015 with Amy Adams Strunk ascending to the top of the food chain and Steve Underwood coming back out of retirement to be team president.
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Quarterback Marcus Mariota will play in the preseason opener against the New York Jets, according to head coach Mike Mularkey.
How much Mariota will play in the opener has not yet been determined, but it will be his first action since the quarterback suffered a broken right fibula in a Christmas Eve loss at Jacksonville last year.
"I think it's important for him to get in a real game, against a real rush where they can actually (hit him)," Mularkey said. "They can get close to him here, but they are instructed to stay away from him at all costs. It'll be good to hopefully not have anybody around him - that's the ultimate goal - but it'll be good for him to get his feet wet."
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While Mariota will see action against the Jets, running back DeMarco Murray has been ruled out of the preseason opener on Saturday night. Murray has been eased back into individual work the past couple of days, but has not yet really tested his injured hamstring.
Murray sustained the injury during a day off when he came in to get some extra work.
"I'm taking it slowly. I'm feeling better than I was a week ago. With a hamstring you've got to be careful, you don't want to have any setbacks and have it linger. It's all about being smart," Murray said.
