The Richest and ‘Poorest’ Owners in Professional Sports

Unless you inherited a sports team, you’ll usually need a few million dollars — or even billions of dollars — to become a professional sports team owner. But because some teams have been passed down for generations — and some teams are more valuable than others — there’s a large range in the wealth of the individuals and families who own these teams.

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GOBankingRates referenced Forbes’ most recent MLB, NFL and NBA team valuations, along with a variety of sources to find each team owner’s net worth. Corporate entities and team owners with no reliable net worth information available were excluded from the final ranking. Find out if your favorite team’s owner is among the richest in their sport.

It’s hard to call any of these team owners poor, as all have net worths in the millions — and sometimes billions. But it’s all relative, and the world of pro sports is an extremely wealthy one. Here are the 26 “poorest” team owners, ranked from least to most “poor.”

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• Net worth: $1 billion
• Team value: $2 billion
• Team purchase price: $287 million
• Year purchased: 2011

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• Net worth: $1 billion
• Team value: $1.6 billion
• Team purchase price: $550 million
• Year purchased: 2014

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• Net worth: $1 billion
• Team value: $1.8 billion
• Team purchase price: $551 million
• Year purchased: 2010

• Net worth: $1 billion
• Team value: $2.5 billion
• Team purchase price: $72 million
• Year purchased: 1984

• Net worth: $925 million
• Team value: $2 billion
• Team purchase price: $7.5 million
• Year purchased: 1967

• Net worth: $800 million
• Team value: $2 billion
• Team purchase price: $4.5 million
• Year purchased: 1964

• Net worth: $800 million
• Team value: $4.3 billion
• Team purchase price: $450 million
• Year purchased: 2010

• Net worth: $800 million
• Team value: $1.1 billion
• Team purchase price: $200 million
• Year purchased: 2004

• Net worth: $700 million
• Team value: $1.2 billion
• Team purchase price: $223 million
• Year purchased: 2005

• Net worth: $700 million
• Team value: $1.3 billion
• Team purchase price: $95 million
• Year purchased: 1992

• Net worth: $700 million
• Team value: $1.8 billion
• Team purchase price: $534 million
• Year purchased: 2013

• Net worth: $600 million
• Team value: $4.4 billion
• Team purchase price: $20 million
• Year purchased: 1979

• Net worth: $600 million
• Team value: $1.3 billion
• Team purchase price: $238 million
• Year purchased: 2004

• Net worth: $500 million
• Team value: $1.5 billion
• Team purchase price: $600 million
• Year purchased: 2012

• Net worth: $500 million
• Team value: $3.9 billion
• Team purchase price: $500 million
• Year purchased: 1925

• Net worth: $500 million
• Team value: $1.6 billion
• Team purchase price: $325 million
• Year purchased: 2006

• Net worth: $500 million
• Team value: $2.8 billion
• Team purchase price: $2,500
• Year purchased: 1933

• Net worth: $500 million
• Team value: $1 billion
• Team purchase price: $1.2 billion
• Year purchased: 2017

• Net worth: $500 million
• Team value: $2.4 billion
• Team purchase price: $391 million
• Year purchased: 2002

• Net worth: $450 million
• Team value: $3.1 billion
• Team purchase price: $360 million
• Year purchased: 2002

• Net worth: $400 million
• Team value: $1.6 billion
• Team purchase price: $325 million
• Year purchased: 2006

• Net worth: $400 million
• Team value: $1.1 billion
• Team purchase price: $270 million
• Year purchased: 2006

• Net worth: $400 million
• Team value: $3.1 billion
• Team purchase price: $360 million
• Year purchased: 2002

• Net worth: $400 million
• Team value: $1.6 billion
• Team purchase price: $404 million
• Year purchased: 2004

• Net worth: $250 million
• Team value: $2.9 billion
• Team purchase price: $180,000
• Year purchased: 1966

• Net worth: $200 million
• Team value: $1.8 billion
• Team purchase price: $76 million
• Year purchased: 1996

It takes a lot of money to own a pro sports teams — and these individuals and families have a lot of it. These are the 26 richest team owners.

• Net worth: $4 billion
• Team value: $2.8 billion
• Team purchase price: $600 million
• Year purchased: 2004

• Net worth: $4 billion
• Team value: $2.8 billion
• Team purchase price: $545 million
• Year purchased: 2002

• Net worth: $4 billion
• Team value: $2.2 billion
• Team purchase price: $150 million
• Year purchased: 1996

• Net worth: $4 billion
• Team value: $2.2 billion
• Team purchase price: $987 million
• Year purchased: 2012

• Net worth: $4 billion
• Team value: $1.3 billion
• Team purchase price: $82 million
• Year purchased: 1992

• Net worth: $4 billion
• Team value: $3.1 billion
• Team purchase price: $600 million
• Year purchased: 1999

• Net worth: $4.2 billion
• Team value: $1.5 billion
• Team purchase price: $375 million
• Year purchased: 2005

• Net worth: $4.5 billion
• Team value: $2.4 billion
• Team purchase price: $280 million
• Year purchased: 2000

• Net worth: $4.6 billion
• Team value: $1.2 billion
• Team purchase price: $323 million
• Year purchased: 2000

• Net worth: $4.6 billion
• Team value: $2.2 billion
• Team purchase price: $192 million
• Year purchased: 1995

• Net worth: $4.6 billion
• Team value: $1.9 billion
• Team purchase price: $1.4 billion
• Year purchased: 2014

• Net worth: $4.7 billion
• Team value: $2.5 billion
• Team purchase price: $2.2 billion
• Year purchased: 2017

• Net worth: $5.4 billion
• Team value: $1.4 billion
• Team purchase price: $85 million
• Year purchased: 1991

• Net worth: $5.5 billion
• Team value: $1.9 billion
• Team purchase price: $450 million
• Year purchased: 2006

• Net worth: $6.2 billion
• Team value: $2 billion
• Team purchase price: $32.5 million
• Year purchased: 1988

• Net worth: $6.2 billion
• Team value: $4.1 billion
• Team purchase price: $172 million
• Year purchased: 1994

• Net worth: $6.7 billion
• Team value: $3.1 billion
• Team purchase price: $100 million
• Year purchased: 1993

• Net worth: $7.7 billion
• Team value: $1.6 billion (Nuggets)/$3.8 billion (Rams)
• Team purchase price: $202 million (Nuggets)/$750 million (Rams)
• Year purchased: 2000/2010

• Net worth: $7.7 billion
• Team value: $2.8 billion
• Team purchase price: $1.1 billion
• Year purchased: 2008

• Net worth: $8.5 billion
• Team value: $5.5 billion
• Team purchase price: $150 million
• Year purchased: 1989

• Net worth: $9 billion
• Team value: $2.3 billion
• Team purchase price: $770 million
• Year purchased: 2011

• Net worth: $10.5 billion
• Team value: $2.5 billion
• Team purchase price: $3.3 billion
• Year purchased: 2019

• Net worth: $11 billion
• Team value: $4.4 billion
• Team purchase price: $268 million
• Year purchased: 1998

• Net worth: $12 billion
• Team value: $2.4 billion
• Team purchase price: $2.3 billion
• Year purchased: 2018

• Net worth: $20.3 billion
• Team value: $1.9 billion (Trailblazers)/$2.8 billion (Seahawks)
• Team purchase price: $70 million (Trailblazers)/$194 million (Seahawks)
• Year purchased: 1988 (Trailblazers)/1997 (Seahawks)

• Net worth: $74.1 billion
• Team value: $2.6 billion
• Team purchase price: $2 billion
• Year purchased: 2014

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Methodology: To find the richest and “poorest” owners in professional sports, GOBankingRates began by referencing Forbes’ most recent Major League Baseball, National Football League, and National Basketball Association team valuations. GOBankingRates used Forbes’ data to find the (1) notable owners, (2) 2020 team value, (3) purchase price and (4) year of purchase for every team in all three leagues analyzed. Then, GOBankingRates used a variety of sources (primarily Forbes, Celebrity Net Worth and the Los Angeles Times) to find (5) each owner’s net worth. Corporate entities and team owners with no reliable net worth information available were excluded from the final ranking.