The chances of the Los Angeles Lakers in the playoffs looked bleak at the end of February, when the team was clinging to one of the last places for the round of play-in of the NBA and LeBron James he was suffering from what was thought to be a season-ending foot injury.
However, James miraculously returned to the pitch a month later, saying a doctor had told him he was “healing faster than anyone they’ve ever seen with the injury before.” The Lakers have won three of the four games they’ve played since then, and it looks likely they’ll be close to playoffs with a handful of games to play.
It’s just the latest in a long string of superhuman feats James has accomplished since entering the NBA in 2003, both on and off the court. In June, Forbes named him a billionaire, making James y a Tiger Woods in the first athletes in history to reach ten-figure net worth while still active in their respective sports.
The fortunes of James and Woods are built on massive, sustained earnings over two decades, both on the pitch, with unparalleled sporting success, and endorsement deals to match their iconic status. Along the way, each has used the money to build an impressive investment portfolio.
The duo head a group of twelve newcomers to the 2023 world billionaire rankings. who have earned their place thanks to the flourishing business of sports. In particular, this dozen or so new billionaires can thank windfalls from media rights deals, which have skyrocketed team values and athlete revenues in several leagues. And with good reason: Last year, 94 of the 100 most-watched linear broadcasts in the United States were sporting events. That doesn’t even include the value of new media like Netflix, which made This is Wolffteam principal and co-owner of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team, into a billionaire celebrity with the effect of his docuseries Drive to Survive on the value of Formula 1 teams.
For some, owning a sports team is turning out to be the main asset of a family dynasty. Mark Davis of the Las Vegas Raiders, Amy Adams Strunk of the Tennessee Titans, and the three children of George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees, inherited ownership of their respective teams and have dedicated themselves to managing them, with various success levels. Since they took over, however, all five have posted double-digit profits, proving that success in the sports business isn’t too tied to success on the pitch.
Unlike the stock market volatility that has plagued many billionaires in the last year, there are no indications that the values and profits of the sports world will rise in the foreseeable futurewhich is great news not only for these new sports billionaires, but also for those who will follow them.
Here are the new sports billionaires featured on the Forbes World’s Billionaires 2023 list:
*In order of net worth as of March 10, 2023
Robert «Woody» Johnson
Net worth: 3.4 billion of dollars | Team: New York Jets | Nationality united states
After four years as Donald Trump’s ambassador to the UK, Johnson returned in 2021 to help manage his family’s assets, which include ownership of the NFL’s New York Jets and sanitary-ware giant Johnson & Johnson.
Larry Tanenbaum
Net worth: 2 billion of dollars | Teams: Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto FC, Toronto Argonauts | Nationality: Canada
As president of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, Tanenbaum owns a portion of Toronto’s top sports teams: the Maple Leafs (NHL), Raptors (NBA), Toronto FC (MLS) and Argonauts (Canadian Soccer League). He is also the owner and CEO of the construction company Kilmer Van Nostrand Co. and has an extensive real estate portfolio.
david blitzer
Net worth: 1.9 billion of dollars | Teams: Cleveland Guardians, Real Salt Lake, Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Devils, Crystal Palace, Pittsburgh Steelers | Nationality united states
The Blackstone executive owns stakes in MLB’s Guardians and MLS’s Real Salt Lake, and in partnership with Apollo Global co-founder Josh Harris, owns parts of teams in the NBA (76ers), NHL (Devils) , the Premier League (Crystal Palace) and the NFL (Steelers).
Mark Davis
Net worth: 1.9 billion of dollars | Team: Las Vegas Raiders | Nationality united states
Football is the only business Davis has ever known, growing up around the Raiders when his father, Al, was a coach, then general manager and finally principal owner of the NFL franchise. Mark took over after the death of his father in 2011 and oversaw the team’s move to Las Vegas in 2020.
Amy Adams Strunk
Net worth: 1.7 billion of dollars | Team: Tennessee Titans | Nationality united states
One of the growing number of women joining the ranks of NFL ownership, Adams Strunk took control of the Tennessee Titans in 2015, two years after the death of her father, Bud Adams. Her 50% share is now worth double what it was then. “I never thought, ever, that she would be running the football team,” she told Forbes in September.
Irving Grousbeck
Net worth: 1.6 billion of dollars | Team: Boston Celtics | Nationality united states
A co-founder of Continental Cablevision (later MediaOne), Grousbeck helped lead an investment group that bought the Boston Celtics for $360 million in 2003. Five years later, the legendary franchise won its first NBA championship in two decades. Today, his 30% stake alone is worth $1.1 billion.
Hal Steinbrenner, Jennifer Steinbrenner Swindal y Jessica Steinbrenner
Net worth: 1.3 billion of dollars each | Team: New York Yankees | Nationality united states
The New York Yankees, valued at $1.6 billion when George Steinbrenner died in 2010, are now worth $7.1 billion. Steinbrenner’s three sons each own a piece of the MLB team, which is the league’s most valuable, as well as parts of the YES Network and MLS’s New York FC.
Tiger Woods
Net worth: 1.1 billion of dollars | Source of wealth: Golf | Nationality united states
The golf legend reportedly turned down nine figures to join the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour. You don’t need the money. Over his three-decade career, Woods has brought in more than $1.7 billion in endorsements, tournaments and other income before taxes and agent fees, enough for him to join James as one of only two billionaire athletes. in active.
LeBron James
Net worth: 1 billion of dollars | Source of wealth: Basketball | Nationality united states
James, who broke the NBA scoring record in February, continues to add figures to his fortune. He has topped Forbes’ list of highest-paid players for nearly a decade, earning an estimated $124.5 million this season on and off the court thanks to his contract with the Lakers and endorsement deals with companies like Nike, AT&T and Pepsi. James has invested his earnings in real estate, the SpringHill entertainment company, and interests in Blaze Pizza, the fitness Tonal, a Major League Pickleball franchise and Fenway Sports Group, owner of the Boston Red Sox.
This is Wolff
Net worth: 1 billion of dollars | Team: Mercedes-AMG Petronas | Nationality: Austrian
Wolff, protagonist of the Netflix series Drive to Survive, is director of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team. A former racing driver, he bought the Formula 1 team in 2013, long before team values soared, and led Mercedes to eight consecutive Constructors’ Championships.
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2023-07-13 07:34:31
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