Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft and 23 More Of The Richest NFL Team Owners
For the megarich, ownership of a sports franchise is the ultimate trophy -- and an NFL team is the biggest cap feather of them all. Some of the richest NFL team owners inherited their franchises as part of massive hand-me-down fortunes.
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Other owners bought their teams after amassing enormous wealth on their own and paying huge money to enter one of the most exclusive clubs around. In a few rare cases, the family fortune is actually based on ownership of the team. Team owners are ranked from least to most wealth, primarily based on data from Forbes.
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All the owners on this list are rich -- sometimes even richer than the teams they own.
Daniel Rooney Trust and Arthur Rooney II: $500 Million Net Worth (Tie)
Team: Pittsburgh Steelers
Year Purchased: 1933
Price Paid for Team: $2,500
Team Value: $3.4 billion
Art Rooney founded the Steelers -- known as the Pirates in their first seven years -- in July 1933. It took nearly 40 years for the franchise to win anything until earning the AFC Central division title in 1972. By the end of the decade, the Steelers had won the first four of their overall six Super Bowl championships. In 1975, Art Rooney appointed his oldest son, Dan, to take over the day-to-day operations of the team. The elder Rooney died in 1988, and Dan Rooney passed away in 2017. Art Rooney II, one of the nine children of Dan and Patricia Rooney, was named Steelers president in 2003.
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John Mara: $500 Million Net Worth (Tie)
Team: New York Giants
Year Purchased: 1925
Price Paid for Team: $500
Team Value: $4.9 billion
Tim Mara was the founding owner of the New York Giants, and in 1930, he named his sons, Jack and Wellington, as co-owners of the team. When Jack Mara died in 1965, his son, Timothy, took control of the share of the team belonging to that side of the family. A feud with uncle Wellington, however, led to the sale of half the team by Jack Mara's heirs to Bob Tisch in 1991. Wellington Mara passed away in 2005, and his son, John, is team president and CEO.
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Glazer Family: $1 Billion Net Worth
Team: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Year Purchased: 1995
Price Paid for Team: $192 million
Team Value: $2.9 billion
Malcolm Glazer was the patriarch of the Glazer family, and when he died in 2014, he left his descendants an empire built on the First Allied Corp., which includes millions of square feet of retail shopping space. He also willed them the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which he bought in 1995 for $192 million, and the six Glazer children run the franchise. The Glazers also own Manchester United of Europe's Premier League.
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Dean Spanos: $1 Billion Net Worth
Team: Los Angeles Chargers
Year Purchased: 1984
Price Paid for Team: $72 million
Team Value: $2.9 billion
Dean Spanos took over full ownership of the Chargers in 2018 when his father, Alex Spanos, passed away. Alex Spanos purchased majority interest in the Chargers in 1984 for $72 million. Ownership drew heavy criticism and scorn for moving the franchise from San Diego to Los Angeles in 2017. Dea Berberian, sister of Dean Spanos, has filed a lawsuit seeking to force the sale of the team, saying her brother's management has led to losses for the family trust.
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Pat Bowlen Trust: $1 Billion Net Worth
Team: Denver Broncos
Year Purchased: 1984
Price Paid for Team: $78 million
Team Value: $3.8 billion
Iconic Broncos owner Pat Bowlen was a successful lawyer and real estate developer before he bought the franchise in 1984. During his 35-year tenure, Denver won 60% of its games -- a winning percentage topped only by the Patriots. Bowlen died at the age of 75 in June 2019, and future ownership of the team has been up in the air since. It appears the franchise will be sold, but to whom is the question. The estate of the man from whom Bowlen bought the team claims it has the right of first refusal in any sale, so a judge must settle that issue before Bowlen's children can court prospective buyers. Since NFL teams don't come for sale very often, interest will be high among prospective ownership groups.
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Steve Tisch: $1.2 Billion Net Worth
Team: New York Giants
Year Purchased: 1991
Price Paid for Team: $150 million
Team Value: $4.9 billion
Steve Tisch, whose net worth is estimated at $1.2 billion, owns half of the New York Giants -- John Mara owns the other half. In 2005, Tisch took over a 50% stake in the Giants, which his father, Bob Tisch, purchased for $75 million in 1991 -- the entire team sold for $150 million.
The elder Tisch co-founded the financial conglomerate Loews Corp. in 1946, and when he died in 2005, Steve Tisch became half-owner of what is now the No. 3 most valuable team in the NFL. His mother, Joan, was the largest Loews shareholder, and when she died in 2017, Steve Tisch inherited her fortune.
Zygmunt Wilf: $1.3 Billion Net Worth
Team: Minnesota Vikings
Year Purchased: 2005
Price Paid for Team: $600 million
Team Value: $3.4 billion
Zygmunt "Zygi" Wilf is a German immigrant and the son of Polish-Jewish Holocaust survivors. His father and uncle formed a real estate company, which Wilf joined after working as a lawyer. After assuming control of the firm, he dramatically expanded the company's portfolio, which now includes tens of thousands of apartments and vast commercial holdings.
McCaskey Family: $1.3 Billion Net Worth
Team: Chicago Bears
Year Purchased: 1920
Price Paid for Team: $100
Team Value: $4.1 billion
No team has a longer and prouder lineage than the Chicago Bears, whose 1,000-game history began in 1920. The Bears and the Cardinals are the only two remaining charter members of the National Football League. That year, George Halas bought the team for $100 -- three years before his daughter Virginia was born in 1923. The oldest owner in the NFL, Virginia Halas McCaskey is among the only owners whose family fortune comes directly from owning a team, as opposed to buying a team after becoming independently wealthy.
Lamar Hunt Family: $2 Billion Net Worth
Team: Kansas City Chiefs
Year Purchased: 1960
Price Paid for Team: $25,000
Team Value: $2.93 billion
When the NFL didn't allow Lamar Hunt, one of the children of Texas oil tycoon H.L. Hunt, to buy a franchise, he did one better. He started his own league. The American Football League began play in 1960 after Lamar Hunt convinced seven other men -- they called themselves the "Foolish Club" -- to each pay a $25,000 franchise fee. The two leagues merged in 1966, and soon to follow was the Super Bowl -- a name created by Hunt -- between the newly named American and National football conferences. Hunt died of prostate cancer in 2006, and his son, Clark Hunt, now is the CEO and chairman of the Kansas City Chiefs - originally the Dallas Texans when the AFL was founded.
Jeffrey Lurie: $3.5 Billion Net Worth
Team: Philadelphia Eagles
Year Purchased: 1994
Price Paid for Team: $185 million
Team Value: $3.8 billion
Jeffrey Lurie, worth $3.5 billion, has owned the Eagles for more than a quarter-century. He took out a loan to buy the team, and went on to earn his fortune in the movie and media business. He became an executive in the General Cinema Corporation, founded by his grandfather in 1983, and later founded Chestnut Hill Productions.
Johnson Family: $3.5 Billion Net Worth
Team: New York Jets
Year Purchased: 2000
Price Paid for Team: $635 million
Team Value: $4.1 billion
Despite being perennially and predictably terrible, the Jets are consistently one of the 10 most valuable teams in the NFL. Their owner, Woody Johnson, served as ambassador to Great Britain from 2017-2020, and his brother ran the team in his absence. Now, Woody Johnson is back as chairman and Christopher Johnson as vice chairman. Woody Johnson is not a self-made man by any means. He's the most famous of the heirs of Robert Wood Johnson, who founded Johnson & Johnson in 1886.
Jim Irsay: $3.5 Billion Net Worth
Team: Indianapolis Colts
Year Purchased: 1972
Price Paid for Team: $14 million
Team Value: $3.25 billion
Robert Irsay bought the Colts for $14 million in 1972, and his son, Jim, spent his childhood with the team, living with them in the summer and traveling with them on the team bus as a kid. A college football player himself, Jim Irsay worked various jobs for the Colts for his entire life, including ticket sales and public relations. When the elder Irsay died in 1997, Jim Irsay became the sole owner and led Indy to a successful run that included a Super Bowl. He is now worth $3.5 billion.
Jimmy and Dee Haslam: $3.7 Billion Net Worth
Team: Cleveland Browns
Year Purchased: 2012
Price Paid for Team: $987 million
Team Value: $2.6 billion
In 1958, Jim Haslam bought a single gas station for $6,000. In the ensuing decades, he turned that into the truck stop empire that is Pilot Flying J, which has 900 locations in North America and brings in about $30 billion in revenues a year. His son Jimmy, along with Jimmy's wife, Dee, bought the Browns in 2012. Jimmy joined the Pilot board of directors as a college student and served as CEO until early 2020, when he transitioned to chairman. Jimmy and Dee Haslam are worth $3.7 billion.
Gayle Benson: $3.8 Billion Net Worth
Team: New Orleans Saints
Year Purchased: 1985
Price Paid for Team: $70.2 million
Team Value: $2.8 billion
Gayle Benson inherited not just the Saints, but also the New Orleans Pelicans, when her husband, wealthy businessman Tom Benson, passed away in 2018. He purchased the team in 1985 for $70.2 million. Gayle Benson, Tom Benson's third wife, is worth $3.8 billion.
Dan Snyder: $4 Billion Net Worth
Team: Washington Football Team
Year Purchased: 1999
Price Paid for Team: $750 million
Team Value: $4.2 billion
Dan Snyder made his money through his marketing firm Snyder Communications, which he formed after dropping out of college. He took the company public in 1996 and then sold it to a French company in 2000 -- the year after he bought the storied franchise -- for $750 million. In late June, his wife, Tanya Snyder, was named co-CEO and took over day-to-day team operations "for at least the next several months," The Washington Post said. The shift came after an NFL investigation found that the culture of the club was "toxic" under Dan Snyder's leadership and fined the franchise $10 million. Today, Dan Snyder's net worth today is estimated at $4 billion.
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Denise DeBartolo York and John York: $4 Billion Net Worth
Team: San Francisco 49ers
Year Purchased: 1977
Price Paid for Team: $13 million
Team Value: $4.2 billion
The 49ers are the No. 6 most valuable team in the NFL, and the family of Denise York owns 90% of it. Her father, construction giant Edward DeBartolo Sr., bought the team for $13 million in 1977. The wife of pathologist John York, Denise gained control of the 49ers from her brother, who owned the team for 23 years before running into legal trouble. Their son, Jed York, is the team CEO. The Yorks are worth $4 billion.
Janice McNair: $4.2 Billion Net Worth
Team: Houston Texans
Year Purchased: 1999
Price Paid for Team: $600 million
Team Value: $3.7 billion
When Robert McNair died in 2018, his widow, Janice McNair, inherited her late husband's 80% stake in the 32nd and most recent expansion team to enter the NFL. Robert paid $600 million for the Houston Texans after selling his power generator company Cogen Technologies to energy firm (and soon-to-be criminal enterprise) Enron in 1999. Janice McNair is worth $4.2 billion.
Terry and Kim Pegula: $5.7 Billion Net Worth
Team: Buffalo Bills
Year Purchased: 2014
Price Paid for Team: $1.4 billion
Team Value: $2.3 billion
Fracking magnate Terry Pegula, along with his wife, Kim, have an estimated net worth of $5.7 billion -- but it wasn't always that way. He founded his energy company, East Resources, in 1983 with a $7,500 loan. In 2010, he sold East Resources to the Royal Dutch Shell company for $4.7 billion. The undisputed monarchs of Buffalo sports, the Pegulas also own the Buffalo Sabres NHL team.
Stephen Bisciotti: $5.7 Billion Net Worth
Team: Baltimore Ravens
Year Purchased: 2004
Price Paid for Team: $600 million
Team Value: $3.4 billion
Stephen Bisciotti, who was raised by a single mother in Baltimore, started the staffing firm Allegis Group with his cousin Jim Davis -- also now a billionaire -- in a basement in 1983. Today, Bisciotti is worth $5.7 billion and owns the Ravens, who won a Super Bowl most recently in 2013. In 2018, Allegis Group did $13.6 billion in revenue.
Arthur Blank: $7.2 Billion Net Worth
Team: Atlanta Falcons
Year Purchased: 2002
Price Paid for Team: $545 million
Team Value: $3.2 billion
If you've ever shopped at Home Depot, you've contributed to the $7.2 billion fortune of Arthur Blank. He co-founded the hardware giant with Bernie Marcus in 1978, became one of the richest people in the world, and stepped down as Home Depot co-chairman in 2001, a year before buying the Falcons. In 2012, he signed the Giving Pledge and vowed to donate the majority of his wealth to charity.
Robert Kraft: $8.3 Billion Net Worth
Team: New England Patriots
Year Purchased: 1994
Price Paid for Team: $172 million
Team Value: $5 billion
As a child, Robert Kraft sold newspapers outside of the former Braves Stadium in Boston. He began amassing his $8.3 billion fortune through a successful packaging and paper business and went on to assemble a sporting empire that now includes stakes in the UFC and the New England Revolution MLS soccer club. The jewel in his crown, however, is the six-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, which was the greatest dynasty in football history before finally missing the playoffs in 2020.
Stephen M. Ross: $8.3 Billion Net Worth
Team: Miami Dolphins
Year Purchased: 2008
Price Paid for Team: $1.1 billion
Team Value: $3.4 billion
Tax-attorney-turned-real-estate-developer Stephen M. Ross amassed an $8.3 billion fortune, in part, through his Related Co. real estate firm. It's responsible for $60 billion in property development and acquisition, including Manhattan's Hudson Yards, which opened to the public in 2019. Ross also owns stakes in a variety of restaurant chains, SoulCycle and Equinox Fitness.
Shahid Khan: $8.5 Billion Net Worth
Team: Jacksonville Jaguars
Year Purchased: 2011
Price Paid for Team: $770 million
Team Value: $2.8 billion
A self-made man now worth $8.5 billion, Shahid Khan is an engineer by trade. In 1980, he bought Flex-N-Gate, an auto parts supplier, from his former employer. He then put his engineering background to work in designing a hugely successful one-piece truck bumper, and in the ensuing decades, he grew his business to include 69 plants run by 26,000 employees.
Jerry Jones: $10.2 Billion Net Worth
Team: Dallas Cowboys
Year Purchased: 1989
Price Paid for Team: $150 million
Team Value: $6.5 billion
Jerry Jones, who is worth $10.2 billion, has both football and business baked into his DNA. He originally made his money as a successful oil wildcatter, but before that, he served as co-captain of the University of Arkansas' 1964 national championship football team. Although they haven't played in a Super Bowl since the 1995 season, the Cowboys are the most valuable team in not just the NFL, but in all sports, by a mile -- the next-most-valuable team, the New York Yankees, is worth $5.25 billion, according to Forbes rankings. All of this happened under the unprecedented stewardship of Jones, who revolutionized the modern NFL and changed how it's marketed, sold, merchandized and contracted to the media.
Stanley Kroenke: $10.7 Billion Net Worth
Team: Los Angeles Rams
Year Purchased: 2010
Price Paid for Team: $750 million
Team Value: $4.8 billion
Real estate powerbroker Stanley Kroenke is worth $10.7 billion, much of which can be credited to the 30 million square feet of mostly commercial real estate in his bulging portfolio. Kroenke boasts a title coveted by the elite since the founding of America -- landowner. He personally owns nearly 1.4 million acres of ranches in the U.S. and Canada. A major sports mogul, his holdings are not limited to the Rams. He also owns the Colorado Avalanche, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Rapids and Arsenal soccer club in Britain.
David Tepper: $15.8 Billion Net Worth
Team: Carolina Panthers
Year Purchased: 2018
Price Paid for Team: $2.3 billion
Team Value: $2.9 billion
Widely hailed as the greatest hedge fund manager of his generation, David Tepper made a lot of money for his clients -- and himself. His net worth is estimated to be $15.8 billion, making him the richest individual NFL owner by a longshot. A former Goldman Sachs junk bond manager, Tepper's Appaloosa Management fund oversees $13 billion in assets -- 65% of the $20 billion it managed at its peak.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft and 23 More Of The Richest NFL Team Owners
