Jeffrey Howard Smulyan (born April 6, 1947) is the founder and chief executive officer of Emmis Communications.
In 1980, he founded Emmis Broadcasting Corporation as the principal shareholder and began to purchase radio stations: WENS in Indianapolis; WLOL in Minneapolis; KSHE in St. Louis; KPWR in Los Angeles; WQHT (1986) and WHN (1986) in New York; and WAVA (1986) in Washington D.C.[5] making EMMIS the largest privately owned radio broadcasting company in America.
In 1988, he purchased KXXX in San Francisco; WKQX in Chicago; WJIB in Boston; and WYNY and WNBC in New York.
Emmis owns Indianapolis Monthly magazine, as well as a controlling interest in Digonex, which provides dynamic pricing solutions across multiple industries.
He later stated that it came down due to how they underestimated the state of the team and the perception of the city towards the team that he felt was "cynical" (at one point, when at a gathering with a sports fan about transit for game day with the Seahawks at the Kingdome, Smulyan talked about the Mariners and their train stopping at the Kingdome, much to the surprise of the fan who didnt know the Mariners played there).
[11][12] Smulyan, who became a bit of a pariah in the town, put the team up for sale in 1991, hoping to break an escape clause that could mean he would sell for a high price over $100 million; the league privately pushed for a move to Tampa.
Through the efforts of Art Harrigan (who successfully argued that the escape clause did not apply in relation to timing that kept the price at $100 million) and Senator Slade Gorton, a group of local buyers (headlined by Nintendo) was found to buy the team.
[13][14] In 2005, Smulyan was one of the final eight bidders vying to buy the Washington Nationals, but Ted Lerner ended up winning the bid.