The past year saw a new personality becoming the richest owner in the sporting arena. Indian industrialist Mukesh Ambani overtook Steve Ballmer, the Microsoft CEO, and led The richest sports team owners globally. His cricket team, Mumbai Indians, plays in the Indian Premier League and has been the champions for the last two years. The personal net worth of Mukesh Ambani doubled to $84.5 billion after his flagship company, Reliance Industries market value increased more than 85 % making him the richest club owner in the world in 2021.
Steve Ballmer, the last year no 1, who owns the basketball team, Los Angeles Clippers, saw his fortunes grow with his net worth valued at $68.7 billion, up from $52.7 billion. But this was not enough to keep pace with Ambani.
The bar gets higher
Since 2020, the entry bar for getting into the list of richest sports team owners has gone up dramatically, with billionaire wealth showing record growth. The top 20 owners of sports teams globally have a combined net worth of $427 billion in 2021, a growth of over 60% over 2020 despite empty stadiums and sporting arenas.
Covid-19 did not dampen the spirit of sports fans or prevent major deals from happening. A hedge fund billionaire, Steve Cohen, got the approval of a $2.4 billion purchase of the New York Mets baseball team. This deal enabled him to earn a place in the world’s richest sports owners for the first time in 2021.
Another newcomer to the top list is Arthur Blank, billionaire, and co-founder of Home Depot. He is now the Atlanta Falcons football club owner and has a net worth of 6.2 billion dollars. Blank is also the owner of the professional soccer team Atlanta United FC which plays in Major league soccer.
The third richest sports team owner is billionaire Dan Gilbert, a mortgage tycoon, and owner of Cleveland Cavaliers, the basketball team in the NBA. His net worth is $51.9 billion, which saw a 700 % increase last year as his mortgage company Quicken loans and is now counted among the richest owners in sports 2021.
Today, among the richest sports franchise globally is the Texas-based Dallas Cowboys NFL, valued at $5.7 billion. The Dallas Cowboys is owned by Jerry Jones, whose personal net worth is reported as $8.5 billion in 2019.
Richest Sports club owners in England
Among the richest club owners in England in England currently is Sheikh Mansour, the owner of Manchester City valued at £22 .9 bn. The owners other top premier league clubs in England are
- Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea football club and valued at £9.6bn
- Stan Kroenke, owner of Arsenal football club and valued at £6.35bn
- Nassif Sawiris, owner of Aston Villa Football Club and valued at £5.3bn
Conclusion
Today, 61 billionaires worldwide have controlling stakes in major sports teams and franchises and own 81 teams. These billionaires have fared well despite the pandemic due to the source of funds from core businesses.
