A New Team And A New League Part 10
The Jets sans Sonny plus the Heidi game
Photo By:Gene Kappock/NY Daily News via Getty Images With Sonny Werblin out of the way the four owners installed Donald Lillis as the team president and spokesman for the group. Lillis and Hess were the driving force behind forcing Sonny out or buying him out. The Jets you see were becoming very successful on the field and in attendance, yet showed no profit. The group felt like a bonanza was on the horizon with the AFL/NFL merger just a few years away. They wanted to both reap the financial rewards of that event and be removed from the overspending Sonny was planning.