America's Richest Sports Team Owners 2015

Sports team owners are richer than ever due to the soaring values of their franchises fueled by TV money pouring into sports. The NFL, NBA and MLB signed or kicked off new national TV deals last year worth a combined $90 billion as sports remain one of the last DVR-proof programming options for advertisers to steer their TV budgets. The latest sign of the NFL's dominance on TV: a regular season game between the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks Sunday night drew ratings twice as big as the Primetime Emmy Awards.

But the richest of the rich made their fortunes long before ever investing in sports. Steve Ballmer is America’s richest sports team owner for the second straight year and 21^st wealthiest overall with a net worth of $21.6 billion.

Less than four months after retiring as Microsoft CEO last year, Ballmer bid $2 billion for the Los Angeles Clippers. The price was more than three times the previous record NBA sale price and $400 million more than the next highest bidder, but represented less than 10% of Ballmer’s total net worth. Ballmer’s net worth is down $900 million this year due to a 6% drop in Microsoft’s stock price over the past 12 months. Ballmer spent 14 years at the helm of the $94 billion-in-sales software giant and remains the largest individual shareholder with 4% of the company.

Thirty-nine members or nearly 10% of the Forbes 400 are the controlling owner or managing partner of a team in the four major U.S. sports leagues. They own 47 teams with seven people owning multiple teams. The owners are worth a combined $182 billion.

Stanley Kroenke owns three teams (St. Louis Rams, Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets) and ranks No. 63 overall with a net worth $7.6 billion, up 33% in large part to the soaring value of his sports assets. Kroenke, who is married to a Wal-Mart heir, made his fortune in real estate before investing in sports. Kroenke is pushing hard for a move to Los Angeles for the Rams, which would further increase the value of his team.

The overall net worth of the Forbes 400 richest Americans is $2.24 trillion, up 2% over last year, but the worth of sports team owners jumped 14% on average.

There are 17 NFL owners among the 400, led by Paul Allen, who owns the Seattle Seahawks and the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, is worth $17.8 billion and ranks only behind Ballmer among team owners. Other fat cat NFL owners include Kroenke, the Miami Dolphins Stephen Ross ($6.7 billion), who made his billions in real estate, and the Jacksonville Jaguars Shahid Khan ($5.6 billion), who founded private auto parts maker Flex-N-Gate, which had estimated sales of $4.45 billion last year.

The net worths of two NFL power brokers, Jerry Jones ($5 billion) and Robert Kraft ($4.8 billion), jumped $800 million each thanks to the soaring values of their respective teams, the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots. San Francisco 49ers’ owner Denise York ($1.9 billion) made the 400 for the first time with the value of the 49ers skyrocketing an NFL-high 69% to $2.7 billion on the heels of the team’s new stadium opening last year. Levi’s Stadium will host Super Bowl 50 in February.

The NBA landed 13 owners on the Forbes 400. Miami Heat owner Micky Arison is the NBA’s richest owner after Ballmer and Allen with a net worth of $7.7 billion, ranked No. 60. Before retiring in 2012, Arison was CEO for 34 years of Carnival Cruise, which was founded by his father Ted. Other uber-wealthy NBA owners include Kroenke, Richard DeVos ($5.6 billion) of the Orlando Magic and Charles Dolan ($4.7 billion), who owns the New York Knicks and NHL’s New York Rangers through his family’s controlling interest in Madison Square Garden Co.

Major League Baseball’s richest owner is Ted Lerner, who made his billions in real estate. Lerner is worth $5.5 billion, up 22%, and ranks No. 86 overall. Seven other MLB owners made the 400, including Detroit Tigers’ owners Michael and Marian Ilitch ($5.4 billion), who also own the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings, San Francisco Giants managing partner Charles Johnson ($5.3 billion) and Ray Davis ($3 billion) of the Texas Rangers.

Baseball includes two owners, who are returnees to Forbes 400 this year in Boston Red Sox boss John Henry ($2.2 billion), who last appeared in the 400s in 2013, and Los Angeles Angels owner Arturo Moreno ($1.8 billion), who made the cut in 2012.

The wealthiest Americans have their hands in more than just the NFL, NBA and MLB. The 400 richest own nine NHL teams, as well as stakes in teams in Nascar, Major League Soccer and the English Premier League. Los Angeles Kings owner Philip Anschutz ranks as the third richest sports owner at $10.9 billion. Anschutz made his fortune over 40 years in oilfields, railroads, telecom and most recently in concerts and arenas via his company AEG. He also owns a one-third minority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers.

The richest American with a hand in sports doesn’t own a team at all. Nike  co-founder Phil Knight is worth $24.4 billion, up 23% from a year ago, and ranks No. 17 overall on the Forbes 400. Knight announced plans to step down as Nike chairman next year, which will mark 52 years after he founded the sportswear giant. Nike's latest challenger for supremacy in sports apparel and footwear is Under Armour, which passed Adidas last year as the No. 2 brand in sportswear in the U.S. Under Armour founder Kevin Plank is worth $3.9 billion, up 30%. He ranks No. 145 among the richest Americans.