who own sports teams — Miriam Adelson, who is married to casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, plans to buy a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks basketball team. This will put her in the top echelons of US sports team ownership.
The heir to Las Vegas Sands Corp. is worth about $33 billion. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he would be the third-richest owner of a US sports team, after Steve Ballmer and Rob Walton. Also, she would be the only woman in the top 10.
The estate of Microsoft Corp. cofounder Paul Allen, which owns the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers, is not on the list.
Sports teams are some of the most valuable things you can buy, and as their values have continued to rise, more and more ultra-rich billionaires are looking to get into the business. A lot of the time, this new class of tycoons is taking over brands that were owned by wealthy businessmen and families for decades.
The Athletic reported that Adelson’s buy makes the Mavericks worth a total of $3.5 billion. That’s not as much as the $4 billion who bought the Phoenix Suns earlier this year.
The Mavericks were bought from H. Ross Perot Jr. for $285 million in 2000 by Mark Cuban, who is now worth about $6.4 billion. The team has won three division titles, two conference titles, and one NBA title, in 2011, while he was in charge.
Here are 10 of the richest people who own US sports teams:
1. Steve Ballmer
The NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers are owned by the fifth-richest person in the world and former CEO of Microsoft. He has a worth of $131.7 billion.
2. Rob Walton
The Denver Broncos football team is owned by the former head of Walmart Inc. He’s worth $70.4 billion.
3. Adelson Miriam
So that the family can buy a majority stake in the Mavericks from Cuban, the wife of the casino mogul is selling $2 billion worth of San Manuel shares.
4. Daniel Gilbert
The founder of Rocket Cos. owns most of the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA and is worth $21.3 billion.
5. Hasso Plattner
The creator of the huge software company SAP SE owns most of the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League. He’s thought to be worth $18 billion.
6. David Tepper
The owner of the Carolina Panthers NFL team is also a cofounder of the investment firm Appaloosa Management LP. He’s worth $17.3 billion all together.
7. Stan Kroenke
The business mogul owns the Los Angeles Rams football team, the Denver Nuggets basketball team, the Colorado Avalanche ice hockey team and the football clubs Colorado Rapids and Arsenal in the UK through his Kroenke Sports & Entertainment company. He has a worth of $16.3 billion.
8. Steve Cohen
A group of sports teams in the US, Canada, and Europe are owned by his closely held Anschutz Corp. The Los Angeles Kings of the NHL and the Houston Dynamo and Los Angeles Galaxy of the NBA are some of these teams. He’s worth $15.2 billion.
9. Steve Cohen
Cohen owns the New York Mets sports team and has a net worth of $13.9 billion, most of which comes from his share in Point72 Asset Management.
10. Jerry Jones
The main owner of Comstock Resources Inc. bought the Dallas Cowboys in 1989. He used to play college football. The team has grown to be the most valuable part of Jones’s $12.7 billion fortune.
