SPORTS
May 7, 2013 | By Zach Berman, Inquirer Staff Writer
Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie married Philadelphia resident Tina Lai in a private ceremony this weekend. Lurie, 61, announced last July that he and Christina Weiss Lurie were getting divorced after 20 years of marriage. Lai will have no official role in the Eagles organization. The wedding was attended by family and close friends. "I am happy and excited as Tina and I begin our lives together," Lurie said in a statement. Lai, 39, is from a family that owns restaurants in Philadelphia, including the Vietnam Restaurant in Chinatown and the Vietnam Cafe in University City.
SPORTS
August 14, 2009 | By Elmer Smith
Daily News columnist Elmer Smith spoke with Eagles president Joe Banner last night about the Eagles' signing of Michael Vick. Here is some of what he told Smith: On fan reaction: "We got quite a few calls from people who were upset. But there was a fairly significant, large number, in favor. I'd say there was a smaller number opposed ... "We've been hearing anecdotes of people in sports bars who were enthusiastic about it. There were some chants for Vick here at the game. " On the decision-making process: "I just hope the people will understand that we did our research.
SPORTS
October 18, 2012 | By Jeff McLane, Inquirer Staff Writer
More than two months after it was first reported, Joe Banner was officially named chief executive officer of the Cleveland Browns Tuesday after NFL owners unanimously approved Jimmy Haslam's purchase of the team. "It was a long ride that was actually quite short," Banner told the Inquirer . "It's incredibly exciting. Everybody is wired differently, but this is something I've been looking forward to for some time, something I've wanted to take on. It's the same way I felt when I first came to Philadelphia.
NEWS
September 14, 2003 | By Don Steinberg INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Repress your rage, if you can for a moment, over Eagles ticket prices, $7.50 stadium beers, hoagiegate, Staleygate, the opening-night shutout. Joe Banner, chief executive officer of the Philadelphia Eagles, has a team you can cheer for without mixed feelings. Every school morning, an army of young adults in red "City Year" jackets gather at the foot of City Hall, then disperse to the city's most understaffed public schools. They aid teachers, they clean grounds, they tutor and mentor.
SPORTS
February 2, 2010 | By John Gonzalez, Inquirer Columnist
It seemed pretty clear. And now? Well, now it doesn't. The Eagles can thank Joe Banner for that. After the Birds' season ended, Andy Reid held a news conference and was immediately asked what would happen with Donovan McNabb moving forward, whether he would be Reid's quarterback next season or if Reid was thinking about making the switch to the Hog Hunter (more traditionally referred to by his Christian name, Kevin Kolb). Reid normally dodges direct answers the way Asante Samuel avoids physical contact and tackling, but for once he was candid.
NEWS
June 8, 2012 | By Peter Mucha and INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
The shock waves in the sports community suggest that the Eagles cutting Joe Banner loose is a matter of cosmic proportions. "There is a God," was one Philly.com comment. "WE ARE DOOMED!!!" a fan posted on the Eagles message board. "No one in Philly could have envisioned Andy Reid outlasting Joe Banner w/Eagles but it's happened. End of world next," tweeted Tim Panacchio of Comcast SportsNet. The news was broken overnight by The Inquirer's Jeff McLane that Banner was out as team president after 18 years.
SPORTS
March 19, 1999 | By Christopher K. Hepp, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Imagine that you've spent two years doing right by the world by devoting your time to charity work. You might see it as good karma when a friend asks you to run his professional football team. Instead, you find, as Eagles executive vice president Joe Banner has, that there is a special place in hell for the managers of Philadelphia sports teams with losing records. Ask him about the past year and he takes a moment to gather his thoughts. "It has been very difficult," he says slowly.
NEWS
January 28, 2005 | By Don Steinberg INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
With the Eagles preparing to travel to Jacksonville for the Super Bowl, team president Joe Banner spent four hours yesterday at a Philadelphia City Council hearing that explored why dozens of subcontractors who built the team's stadium in 2002 and 2003 still have not been paid in full for their work. During the emotion-filled hearing, Councilman Rick Mariano, who had convened the hearing and issued subpoenas compelling Banner and others to attend, got into an obscenity-laced scuffle with a contractor, Jamal Johnson, who wasn't part of the stadium situation.
SPORTS
March 21, 2013 | By Jeff McLane, Inquirer Staff Writer
PHOENIX - There has not been a Round 2 of Lurie vs. Banner at the NFL owners meetings. Lifelong friends and business partners for 18 years, Jeffrey Lurie and Joe Banner exchanged verbal blows in January after the Eagles hired Chip Kelly as coach. During the coaching search, a report on CBSsports.com claimed that a "drunk with power" Howie Roseman had scared away potential candidates, including Kelly, and that other general managers were reluctant to make deals with the Eagles GM. The Eagles believed that Banner was the source behind the report.
SPORTS
November 19, 2000 | By Phil Sheridan, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
It's a vision that has shimmered like a mirage for four years now, sometimes looking so close you could reach out and touch it, sometimes threatening to vanish forever. "I imagine a Monday night game to open the 2003 season," Joe Banner said. "The new stadium is all lit up. There are fireworks. Everyone is excited about it. And then the team takes the field and it's a great team with Donovan [McNabb] in the prime of his career. That image is the one that kept me going through all of this.