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Shahid Khan Looks Back On His First Season As Jaguars Owner

Bob Self/Florida Times-Union

It's been a little more than a year since billionaire Shahid Khan purchased the Jacksonville Jaguars for $770 million.

The purchase made the Pakistani-born businessman the first NFL team owner of an ethnic minority, and an instant celebrity here in Jacksonville. It also thrust him into the national spotlight with a profile on CBS's60 Minutes, and a cover story in Forbes naming him the "new face of the American dream."

The past year has not been kind to everyone, though. The Jaguars have faced a rocky 2-14 season, and the replacement of their head coach. Despite this, Khan says in an interview with Forbes this week that he's viewing the past year as a learning experience:

...you hit bottom. You’re 2-14. You unshackle from the past. When I got there, there were two sides, business and football. Business I understand. It was pretty obvious to me what we had to do. But the football side was like the Holy Grail. They had the ‘secret recipe’ here and the self-analysis of the team was that we were pretty good, that we were just a little bit away from the playoffs and if we just get some free agents signed up, we’ll be in great shape. That’s why we ended up with the fourth-highest cash payroll last year. The result was self-evident. If you are honest with yourself and the team and the fans, there’s only one thing to do when it’s 2-14. When it’s 8-8 you can be conflicted as to how much baby and how much bathwater there is, but here there was no baby – it was just water.

You can read more of Kahn's thoughts on his first year, including ticket sales and plans for the Jaguars' games in London, on the Forbes site.

Sean Birch joined the WJCT team in late 2011 and was with the company until 2016.