Sports teams have always been the toys of famous and rich people. But nowadays, with the increasing valuations of sports teams, thanks to TV contracts and such, the entry prices for owning your own team have kept on increasing. For some, it is a means to gain fame and to becoming a public figure.
Forbes just released a list of the wealthiest people around the world who own a sports team. The list includes 63 men and women, with a net worth of over 10-digits and ownership of a sports team under their belt.
These 63 individuals have a combined worth of $285 billion and collectively own 81 team franchises from 12 sports leagues across seven sports worldwide. While there are a few people who managed to become billionaires after a sports investment, most were rich way before they linked themselves to sports.
Who Made Into the Forbes’ List of Sport Teams Owners
One of the NFL’s richest owners is the Pakistan-born Shahid Khan, who is worth $5.9 billion and owns the Jacksonville Jaguars and England’s Fulham football club.
The richest sports team owner is Steve Ballmer with a net worth of $23.5 billion. He remained the CEO of Microsoft up until 2014. He then left the company and paid $2 billion to buy NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, buying it from Donald Sterling who was banned from NBA after airing racist statements. It was the most expensive buying price for an NBA team, and around 3.5 times the previous record.
Interestingly, only five of the world’s 100 wealthiest people have bought a sports team. The richest being Ballmer, who sits at 26th in that list. None of the top 25 have ever shown much interest in buying sports franchises.
The second richest person who owns a sports team is Mukesh Ambani, the richest Indian. He is worth $19.3 billion and owns Mumbai Indians from the Indian Premier League (IPL). He is the richest cricket franchise owner despite a decrease in value of $1.7 billion over the past year.
There are two others, both from India, who own a cricket team. Kalanithi Maran, worth $2.2 billion, owns the Sunrisers Hyderabad team in IPL. Another IPL team owner is Sanjive Goenka who is worth $1.1 billion. He owns the Rising Pune Supergiants, a new entry in the IPL.
Rounding up the top five richest richest team owners are Paul Allen, worth $17.5 billion and owner of Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers, Dietrich Mateschitz, worth $13.2 billion and owner of Red Bull Racing and New York Red Bulls, and Stephen Ross, who owns the Miami Dolphins and is valued at $12 billion. Dietrich Mateschitz is the founder of Red Bull and is the richest person in racing and football.
20 of the billionaires, are owners of a NBA (Basketball) team. Another interesting point is that the list includes 4 richest women who own a team. Joan Tisch, worth $3.3 billion, owns the New York Giants. She’s followed by Denise York, valued at $1.9 billion and owner of San Francisco 49ers, Gail Miller, worth $1.4 billion and owner of NBA Utah Jazz, and Martha Ford, with a wealth of about $1.3 billion and ownership of Detroit Lions.
The list does not include rich families like the Glazers, who own the Manchester United from English Premier League and the Tumpa Bay Buccaneers, or the Steinbrenner family which owns the Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees.
Comments
Post a Comment