Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Forbes finds the most successful billionaire owners of sports teams

According to the Forbes 400 list, there are 33 billionaires who own professional sports franchises in baseball, basketball, hockey, or football. Here are the 10 with the highest winning percentage:

  1. Mark Cuban ($2.3 billion), Dallas Mavericks: 68.7 percent wins. Cuban bought the Mavs in 2000 for $280 million. They won their first NBA Championship this year.
  2. Robert Kraft ($1.7 billion), New England Patriots: 66.2%. Kraft’s Patriots, purchased for $170 million in 1994, have won three Super Bowls since he hired Bill Belichick as coach.
  3. Henry Samueli ($1.7 billion), Anaheim Ducks: 61.1%. The Broadcom founder bought the team in 2005 and won the Stanley Cup in his second season.
  4. Michael Illitch ($2 billion), Detroit Red Wings: 60.3%. Four Stanley Cups later, Illitch’s 1982 purchase price of $8 million looks pretty good.
  5. Jeremy Jacobs ($1.15 billion), Boston Bruins: 59.5%. After an almost 30-year drought, the Bruins won the Stanley Cup in 2011.
  6. Dan Gilbert ($1.5 billion), Cleveland Cavaliers: 59.1%. Gilbert rode the LeBron train to victories until King James took his talents to Miami a year ago.
  7. Stanley Kroenke ($3.2 billion), Colorado Avalanche: 58.4%. Kroenke also owns the St. Louis Rams, Denver Nuggets, and Arsenal soccer team. None have been as successful as the Avalanche.
  8. John Henry ($1.1 billion), Boston Red Sox: 58.1%. The Red Sox broke the Curse of the Bambino by winning two Word Series since Henry bought the team in 2002.
  9. Stephen Bisciotti ($1.3 billion), Baltimore Ravens: 58.0%. The Ravens have won a NFL playoff game for three straight years.
  10. Jeffrey Lurie ($1.1 billion), Philadelphia Eagles: 57.0%. Lurie hasn’t won a Super Bowl in his 17 years of ownership, but consistent success has helped raise the Eagles franchise value to $1.16 billion.

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