Kansas City Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt celebrates with the Vince Lombardi Trophy after the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
It took the family of wildcatter H.L. Hunt 50 years to win their second Super Bowl. It took just three years to win their third.
By Justin Birnbaum
The Kansas City Chiefs have won the Super Bowl. It’s a familiar feeling for the billionaire Hunt family that owns the team. Sunday’s victory marks the second time in four seasons that the Chiefs have collected the Vince Lombardi Trophy, and their third time ever. Thanks to a gritty performance from superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who was named Super Bowl MVP, the Chiefs knocked off the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35.
“What a beautiful trophy,” Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt said, admiring his family’s new piece of hardware during the post-game celebration. “We couldn’t have done it without one of the best coaches in the history of the National Football League, Andy Reid. And what an amazing performance today by Patrick Mahomes and his teammates.”
The Hunts are one of America’s richest families, worth an estimated $20.5 billion, up from $15.3 billion just three years ago when they last won the Super Bowl. The family owns stakes in NFL, NBA and MLS sports teams, oil and gas companies around the globe and a massive underground business park, among other assets.
Their wealth dates back nearly a century. It starts with H.L. Hunt, an oil wildcatter and math prodigy, who struck black gold in the 1930 East Texas Oil Boom, using poker winnings to buy the untapped land. His 15 children later became the beneficiaries of his wealth after he died in 1974.
In 1982, when Forbes published the first ever Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans, 11 of the Hunt family heirs landed on the list: sons Ray Lee Hunt (worth $5.7 billion today) by way of oil and gas, as well as Nelson Bunker Hunt (d. 2014) and William Herbert Hunt ($4.2 billion today), who tried to corner the world silver market in 1980 but lost a bundle in 1980 when the price of the metal collapsed 80%. Daughter Caroline Rose Hunt founded and sold Rosewood Hotels and Resorts. Son Lamar Hunt would go on to be one of the most influential figures in sports.
TOUCHDOWN TYCOONS
The Eagles and Chiefs have each hoisted the Lombardi Trophy in the last five years. But only one emerged victorious at Super Bowl LVII on Sunday.
The 1950s were a critical time for the NFL, as the league began to cement itself as a dominant cultural force. Then in his 20s, Lamar Hunt wanted a way in. He tried to bring an expansion team to Dallas but was rejected by the NFL, and he later turned down a chance to buy a 20% stake in the Chicago Cardinals. Instead, he enacted a bolder vision–creating a league of his own. Hunt assembled owners for eight teams, which each cost $25,000, launching the American Football League. His Dallas Texans claimed the AFL Championship in 1962 before moving to Kansas City a year later.
“Dallas had an NFL franchise,” says Marc Ganis, president of consulting firm Sportscorp, who has worked with numerous NFL teams and owners. “He moved his franchise to Kansas City, a much smaller market, and gave up a big potential upside down the road in order to do something selfless for the AFL at the time.”
The AFL struck a deal in 1966 to merge with the NFL, and Hunt was a major catalyst behind the negotiations. The leagues didn’t fully integrate their operations until 1970, but that didn’t stop the emergence of a new AFL-NFL championship game that would be legacy-defining for Hunt. “I have kiddingly called it the ‘Super Bowl,” he wrote to NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle at the time, “which obviously can be improved upon.” The name originated from the popular Super Ball toy his kids had. Hunt’s Chiefs lost the inaugural edition, Super Bowl I, to the Green Bay Packers. (The NFL later named the AFC Championship trophy in honor of Hunt.)
Decades later, in 2005, Lamar passed control of the Chiefs to his son, Clark, 57, who still runs the team today and serves on a number of NFL committees, including finance. Lamar’s heirs also have a stake in the NBA’s Chicago Bulls and MLS’ FC Dallas soccer team. Lamar’s contributions to soccer also prompted U.S. Soccer to dedicate a trophy to him in 1999, as well. Forbes estimates their collective sports assets are worth $4.5 billion. They also own SubTropolis, a 6.5 million-square-foot underground business complex in Kansas City.
Perhaps founding the Chiefs is the best investment the family has ever made. Forbes valued the franchise at $3.7 billion, including debt, in August. That amounts to an astonishing 14,799,900% lifetime return.
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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/justinbirnbaum/2023/02/12/the-205-billion-hunt-family-just-won-the-super-bowl-heres-who-they-are/