Owners Rich List 2023

Updated: 5275 Other

We all know that there’s a lot of money in sport, but just how rich do you have to be to own your own top-tier sports team?

Owners Rich List 2023

Owners Rich List 2023 - Top 10

Dan Tracey Data Scientist and Football Editor

Writer, analyst, podcaster, Spurs fan. Three out of four is not bad. If there is a data angle, I will find it.

Just how wealthy are the owners of our favorite sports clubs?

We all know that there’s a lot of money in sports, but just how rich do you have to be to own your own top-tier sports team? Having previously identified the wealthiest sports club owners in 2020 and 2022, we at OLBG wanted to update the data to determine how things have changed.

We’ve scoured the top sporting leagues across the most popular sports, including NFL, NBA, NHL & MLB, to find the 100 richest sports club owners.

The chart above rounds the figures up to Billions and below the wealth column in the table is the number of millions - yes That is Steve Balmer with 99,200 MILLION dollars!

Wealth Rank Name Club(s) Wealth USD
1 Steve Ballmer Los Angeles Clippers $99,200,000,000
2 Carlos Slim Real Oviedo $84,600,000,000
3 Mukesh Ambani Mumbai Indians $75,800,000,000
4 David Thomson Winnipeg Jets, Manitoba Moose $52,000,000,000
5 François Pinault & family Stade Rennais FC $41,700,000,000
6 Sheikh Mansour Manchester City, Melbourne City FC, New York City FC, Mumbai City FC $40,000,000,000
7 Mohammad Bin Salman Newcastle United $25,000,000,000
8 Daniel Gilbert Cleveland Cavaliers $20,200,000,000
9 Andrea Agnelli and family Juventus $19,100,000,000
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Steve Balmer

Steve Ballmer

Wealth:  $99.2 billion
Sport: Basketball (NBA)

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer acquired the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team in 2014 for what was a record-breaking $2 billion. After topping the charts in 2022, Ballmer has kept hold of the top spot and a previous fortune of $95.7bn has now swelled to $99.2bn instead. At this rate, a wealth of $100bn+ cannot be all that far away either. 


Carlos Slim

Carlos Slim

Wealth:  $84.6 billion
Sport:  Football (Segunda División)

In the second place, we have the richest person in Mexico and formerly the world’s wealthiest individual, Carlos Slim. Through his global conglomerate Grupo Carso, Slim owns Real Oviedo who currently ply their trade in the Spanish Segunda Division. His financial worth currently stands at $84.6 billion, up by $3.7 billion from when we last conducted this study in 2022.


Mukesh Ambani

Mukesh Ambani

Wealth:  $75.8 billion
Sport:  Cricket (Indian Premier League)

Dropping down to third on the list is Mukesh Ambani. After being worth $94.7bn, the owner of Mumbai Indians has now shed almost $20bn in overall wealth. A significant decline but in fairness, $75.8bn in his bank account will soften the blow somewhat.

Ambani oversaw success in the IPL when the Mumbai Indians lifted the trophy in 2019 and 2020. However, 2022 would see them finish bottom of the regular season table and this only highlights that even a multitude of riches cannot necessarily buy you success. 


David Thomson

David Thomson

Wealth:  $52 billion
Sport:  Ice Hockey (NHL), Ice Hockey (AHL)

David Thomson is the richest owner of a hockey team with a net worth of $52 billion, earning him a 4th place spot in our ranking. His two teams, the Winnipeg Jets and Manitoba Moose are both based in Winnipeg, Canada, and compete in the NHL and AHL, respectively.


François Pinault

François Pinault

Wealth:  $41.7 billion
Sport:  Football (Ligue 1)

The wealthiest owner of a French football team is Francois Pinault, whose club Stade Rennais FC competes in Ligue 1, the top league in France. His net worth stands at $41.7 billion in 2023.


Sheikh Mansour

Sheikh Mansour

Wealth: $40 billion
Sport:  Football (Premier League), Football (A-League Men), Football (MLS), Football (Indian Super League)

The richest Premier League football club owner is Sheikh Mansour, who owns Manchester City and is worth $40 billion. Mansour is not only incredibly wealthy but is also the Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE and is a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family. He also oversees the running of the City Football Group. Although it includes Melbourne City, New York City, and Mumbai City, the group currently has 11 men’s and 6 women’s clubs in its portfolio. 


Mohammad Bin Salman

Mohammad Bin Salman

Wealth:  $25 billion
Sport:  Football (Premier League)

In tenth place is Mohammad Bin Salman, responsible for the 2021 acquisition of Newcastle FC. This takeover divided fans of the club due to the influence of oil money on the sport, as well as controversy over the human rights record of Saudi Arabia whose government’s sovereign wealth fund is the official majority owner of the team. As the Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, among other important government positions, it should come as no surprise that Mohammad Bin Salman is among the wealthiest sports club owners, with a reported net worth of $25 billion.


Daniel Gilbert

Daniel Gilbert

Wealth: $20.2 billion
Sport:  Basketball (NBA)

In eighth place is Daniel Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team, worth $20.2 billion. Most of Gilbet’s riches have been generated from his successful mortgage loans business.


Andrea Agnelli and Family

Wealth: $19.1 billion    
Sport: Football (Serie A)

In ninth place is the Agnelli family, which has overseen the ownership of Juventus since 1949. Admittedly there has been recent turmoil with the Turin club, as a points deduction has meant that former president Andrea has recently stepped down.

However, the family still owns the Old Lady, and with Andrea’s fortune now standing at $19.1 billion, the Italian giants are still well-positioned to mix it with the best teams in Serie A. 


David Tepper

Wealth: $15.5 billion    
Sport: American Football (NFL)

In tenth place is David Tepper, owner of the Carolina Panthers NFL team, worth $15.5 billion. Tepper’s riches came from his impressive abilities as a hedge fund manager. However, it has created a tremendous amount of wealth, the 65-year-old plans to turn it into a family office eventually.     


Also on the list are owners who have made money from betting sites and online casinos

The Coates family, owners of Stoke City, also own the Words Largest Sports Betting Company, bet365, which started as a UK betting site before expanding globally and recently launching a New Jersey online casino.  

Tony Bloom, the owner of Premier League football team Brighton, has recently become a little richer after his racehorse won a major race at the Cheltenham Festival

He reportedly collected over £500,000 on his bets and a further £250,000 in prize money. Bloom has owned Brighton since 2009, winning over $1,500,000 as a professional poker player and making money from online gambling companies.



Owners Rich List 2023 graphic


Methodology

We wanted to update our 2022 data to reveal the wealthiest sports club owners of 2023. We used data from Forbes billionaire rankings Bloomsberg Billionaires as well as other sources where this was not available and checked through our 2022 data to update the figures. 

We then supplemented this by checking the owners of major clubs across the most popular sports to ensure we didn’t miss any wealthy owners.

Data was collected on Friday 27th of March, 2023, with currencies being converted on the same day from USD to GBP. We used exchange rates from Xe.com to convert the currencies.

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