The Richest Sports Team Owners On The 2022 Forbes 400

More than 10% of Forbes 400 members own sports teams, including recent buyers Rob Walton and Todd Boehly.

In hindsight, it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Rob Walton buying the Denver Broncos. With an estimated net worth of $56.7 billion, his purchasing power was nearly impossible to match; only 16 other individuals on the planet are richer than the eldest son of the late Walmart founder, Forbes estimates, one of whom is his brother, Jim (worth an estimated $57.9 billion). The $4.65 billion price tag for the Broncos was the most expensive sports team sale in history, and when the deal closed in August, Walton immediately became the richest owner in the NFL.

“The Broncos are the one sports franchise that we would have considered buying,’’ Walton told reporters in August, adding that his son-in-law Greg Penner had started discussing it a decade ago. The truth is investing in any NFL franchise has proven to be wildly successful over the past two decades. Since 1998, when Forbes started publishing sports team valuations, NFL clubs have appreciated nearly 1,500% on average, nearly triple what the S&P 500 has returned investors (including reinvested dividends) over the same period. That trend is likely to continue as the league’s $113 billion in new media rights pacts kicks in.

Sports teams have made a number of rich people into billionaires, including the New England Patriots’ Robert Kraft and Indianapolis Colts Jim Irsay. But these days you practically have to already be a billionaire to buy a team. Forbes 400 newcomer Todd Boehly made a fortune through his investment firm Eldridge before leading a group that shelled out $3.1 billion for soccer club Chelsea from Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in May.

The richest sports owner in America, for the eighth consecutive year, is Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, who ranks eighth overall on The Forbes 400. The 66-year-old, who led Microsoft as CEO from 2000 to 2014 and still owns shares in the tech giant, is worth an estimated $83 billion. That’s $13.5 billion less than last year due to a drop in the value of Microsoft stock, but he’d be down even more if not for the Clippers. He bought the NBA team in 2014 from embattled former owner Donald Sterling for $2 billion. It’s now the sixth-most valuable NBA club, valued at $3.3 billion.

Rounding out the top five, after Ballmer and Walton, are two hedge fund billionaires and a tech founder. David Tepper claims the No. 3 spot, with an estimated net worth of $18.5 billion. He bought the Carolina Panthers for $2.3 billion in 2018 and has seen the team’s value grow, in concert with the NFL’s skyrocketing media rights, to $3.6 billion. He also owns MLS’ Charlotte FC. Next is Memphis Grizzlies owner Robert Pera, with an estimated net worth of $17.6 billion, much of which comes from his 75% stake in wireless equipment maker Ubiquiti Networks, which he founded and runs as CEO. He bought the Grizzlies for $377 million in 2012 and, despite it being the least valuable franchise in the sport, the club has nearly quadrupled in value and is worth $1.5 billion today. At No. 5 is New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, whose club is headed to the playoffs for the first time since he spent $2.4 billion on the team in 2020. (Forbes estimates the Mets are now worth $2.65 billion.)

One person who has fallen down the ranks is Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, now the sixth richest sports owner in the nation, down from second a year ago. The Rocket Mortgage founder’s fortune declined by 44%, to an estimated $17.3 billion, after the company’s stock lost half of its value over the past year. Meanwhile, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, No. 7, saw the biggest gain. His net worth jumped 76% to an estimated $16 billion thanks to big bets on real estate and natural gas, as well as his Cowboys. Dallas is the most valuable team in the NFL, worth $8 billion this year, up by $1.5 billion from a year ago.

This year’s Forbes 400 includes 50 sports team owners with controlling stakes, up from 43 last year. Seventeen own NFL teams, 14 own NBA franchises, 12 own NHL clubs and 9 are MLB owners. In addition to Walton and Boehly, newcomers include Robert “Woody” Johnson (New York Jets), Joe Mansueto (Chicago Fire FC) and Roger Penske (Team Penske). More than half (28) of these team owners are richer than a year ago, thanks at least in part to their valuable sports franchises.

Here are the sports team owners on the 2022 Forbes 400 list (net worths are as of September 2, 2022):

1.

STEVE BALLMER

_{Team: Los Angeles Clippers}

_{Source of Wealth: Microsoft}

_{Net Worth: $83 Billion (1-YEAR CHANGE: -14%)}

2.

ROB WALTON

_{Team: Denver Broncos}

_{Source of Wealth: Walmart}

_{Net Worth: $56.7 Billion (1-YEAR CHANGE: -16.1%)}

3.

DAVID TEPPER

_{Team: Carolina Panthers, Charlotte FC}

_{Source of Wealth: Hedge Funds}

_{Net Worth: $18.5 Billion (1-YEAR CHANGE: 17.1%)}