The value of
professional sports teams has exploded over the past decade thanks largely to
the massive increases in television rights fees paid for games. This asset
appreciation has minted several new billionaires, including Michael Jordan,
Jerry Reinsdorf and Jeffrey Lurie. There are now 81 sports teams around the
world worth at least $1 billion (some of those teams have multiple owners or
significant debt keeping the net worth of their owners outside the 10-figure
club).
The NBA is
home to more billionaire owners than any other sports league, led by Steve
Ballmer (left), who is joined by NBA commissioner Adam Silver and fellow
billionaire owner Michael Jordan. (Photo by Zhong Zhi/Getty Images)
Sports have
been the road to riches for many people, but the richest of the rich were
billionaires long before they ever entered the sporting world. There are 62
billionaires who are majority owner or managing partner of a team in a major
sports league. They own 78 teams and are worth a collective $322 billion. Factoring
in minority owners and second-tier sports leagues and the ownership ranks
expand to 125 billionaires with stakes in 144 teams, including 40 soccer clubs
(we did not include teams owned by families like the Steinbrenners and
Glazers).
Steve
Ballmer, worth $30 billion, is the world's richest sports team owner for the
third straight year (see the full top 20 below). He bought the Los Angeles
Clippers in 2014 for $2 billion in the wake of the Donald Sterling scandal,
which rocked the NBA when racially charged comments made by Sterling were made
public. The Clippers purchase was 10% of Ballmer's fortune at the time and many
pegged it as an overpay for a basketball junkie who wanted into the exclusive
NBA owners club. Ballmer's timing was perfect as the league inked a new $24
billion TV deal months later and the average NBA franchise value is up 114%
over the past three years.
Microsoft's
stock price is up 20% over the last 12 months (the S&P 500 rose 16%), which
helped push Ballmer's net worth up $6.5 billion from a year ago. Ballmer
dropped out of Stanford's MBA program in 1980 to join Microsoft as employee No.
30. He served as CEO from 2000 to 2014.
Indian oil
and gas tycoon Mukesh Ambani is the second richest sports team owner on the
planet with a net worth of $23.2 billion, up nearly $4 billion from a year ago.
He was one of the original owners in the Indian Premier League, which launched
in 2008. He owns the Mumbai Indians cricket franchise through his company
Reliance Industries. He runs $44.5 billion (revenue) Reliance, which was
founded by his father in 1966 and ranks among India's most valuable companies.
Paul Allen
($19.9 billion) ranks third. He also made his fortune with a Microsoft as a
co-founder of the company with Bill Gates.
He bought the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers and NFL's Seattle Seahawks
after leaving Microsoft. Rounding out top five are Red Bull founder Dietrich
Mateschitz ($13.4 billion) and Philip Anschutz ($12.5 billion). Mateschitz is
the richest person in soccer and auto racing through his stakes in the New York
Red Bulls of MLS and two Formula 1 teams, Red Bull Racing, Scuderia Toro Rosso.
Anschutz owns the NHL's Los Angeles Kings and MLS' LA Galaxy. He also owns a
one-third stake in the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers.
Ballmer and Allen
lead a group of 20 NBA majority owners or managing partners. The sport is
wildly attractive right now because of soaring revenues and the global
opportunities of the sport. “There are a lot of prospective buyers for NBA
franchises, but no sellers right now,” says Sal Galatioto, who runs an
investment bank focused on the sports industry. Other loaded NBA owners include
Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov ($8.9 billion), who has been shopping a
minority stake in the Brooklyn Nets, Micky Arison ($8.1 billion) of the Miami
Heat and Stanley Kroenke ($7.5 billion) of the Denver Nuggets.
Nineteen NFL
teams are owned by billionaires, led by Allen, Shahid Khan ($8.2 billion) of
the Jacksonville Jaguars and Kroenke, who also owns the recently relocated Los
Angeles Rams. The explosion in NFL values has produced more billionaires than
any other league with eight people in the 10-figure net worth club as result of
the value of their NFL franchises.
There are 11
MLB teams owned or which have a managing partner as a billionaire. Longtime
Detroit Tigers owner Michael Ilitch died last month at 87. His wife and family
are baseball's richest at $6 billion. They are followed by Charles Johnson ($6
billion), who runs the San Francisco Giants, and Washington Nationals owner Ted
Lerner ($5.3 billion).
Anschutz
ranks as the richest in hockey, followed by Hasso Plattner ($11.2 billion), who
co-founded German software company SAP in 1972 and owns the San Jose Sharks,
and then Kroenke, who owns the Colorado Avalanche.
Outside of
team ownership, more than a dozen other billionaires can credit their fortunes
to sports. Nike co-founder Phil Knight, who retired as chairman in June after
52 years with the company, is worth $26.2 billion, No. 28 in the world. Under
Armour was the worst-performing sports stock in 2016 and the net worth of
company founder Kevin Plank took a 38% hit over the past year to $2 billion.
Plank fell behind Ding Shijia and Ding Shizhong ($2.1 billion each) whose
fortunes are founded on Chinese sportswear brand Anta Sports.
Michael
Rubin, who made his fortune in online retailing and runs Fanatics, is worth
$2.3 billion. James France inherited an estimated 36% of Nascar, which his
father started in 1948. He is worth $2 billion. Longtime F1 head honcho Bernie
Ecclestone relinquished his post atop the sport in January as part of Liberty
Media Corp.'s purchase of F1. Ecclestone is worth $2.9 billion.
1. (No. 21
overall) Steve Ballmer
Net worth:
$30 billion
Source of
wealth: Microsoft
Team: Los
Angeles Clippers
2. (33)
Mukesh Ambani
Net worth:
$23.2 billion
Source of
wealth: Petrochemicals, oil & gas
Team: Mumbai
Indians
3. (42) Paul
Allen
Net worth:
$19.9 billion
Source of
wealth: Microsoft, investments
Teams:
Seattle Seahawks, Portland Trail Blazers
4. (86)
Dietrich Mateschitz
Net worth:
$13.4 billion
Source of
wealth: Red Bull
Teams: New
York Red Bulls, Red Bull Racing, Scuderia Toro Rosso
5. (96)
Philip Anschutz
Net worth:
$12.5 billion
Source of
wealth: Investments
Teams: Los
Angeles Kings, LA Galaxy
6. (118)
Hasso Plattner & family
Net worth:
$11.2 billion
Source of
wealth: Software
Team: San
Jose Sharks
7. (139)
Roman Abramovich
Net worth:
$9.1 billion
Source of
wealth: Steel, investments
Team:
Chelsea
8. (145)
Mikhail Prokhorov
Net worth:
$8.9 billion
Source of
wealth: Investments
Team:
Brooklyn Nets
9. (158)
Shahid Khan
Net worth:
$8.2 billion
Source of
wealth: Auto parts
Team:
Jacksonville Jaguars
10. (159)
Micky Arison
Net worth:
$8.1 billion
Source of
wealth: Carnival Cruises
Team: Miami
Heat
11. (182)
Stanley Kroenke
Net worth:
$7.5 billion
Source of
wealth: Sports, real estate
Teams: Los
Angeles Rams, Arsenal, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche
12. (186)
Stephen Ross
Net worth:
$7.4 billion
Source of
wealth: Real estate
Team: Miami
Dolphins
13. (199)
Silvio Berlusconi & family
Net worth:
$7 billion
Source of
wealth: Media
Team: AC
Milan
14. (239)
Marian Ilitch & family
Net worth:
$6 billion
Source of
wealth: Pizza
Teams:
Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Tigers
15. (250)
Daniel Gilbert
Net worth:
$5.8 billion
Source of
wealth: Quicken Loans
Team:
Cleveland Cavaliers
15. (250)
Charles Johnson
Net worth:
$5.8 billion
Source of
wealth: Money management
Team: San
Francisco Giants
17. (269)
Richard DeVos & family
Net worth:
$5.6 billion
Source of
wealth: Amway
Team:
Orlando Magic
17. (269)
Joe Lewis
Net worth:
$5.6 billion
Source of
wealth: Investments
Team:
Tottenham Hotspur FC
19. (303)
Jerry Jones
Net worth:
$5.2 billion
Source of
wealth: Dallas Cowboys
Team:
Cowboys
20. (315)
Robert Kraft
Net worth:
$5.1 billion
Source of
wealth: New England Patriots
Team:
Patriots
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