If you’re looking to build some serious wealth in a relatively short amount of time, you could do a lot worse than to buy a professional sports team.
Consider how, in 2019, Alibaba Group cofounder Joseph Tsai and his family purchased the Women’s National Basketball Association’s New York Liberty for between $10 million and $14 million. Six years later, they sold a limited partnership stake in the club valued at a whopping $450 million to raise capital for a new practice facility. Not a bad return on investment.
The sale of the Liberty — now the WNBA’s second-most valuable franchise — exemplifies what CNBC’s Jessica Golden called the “meteoric rise of sports team values” in recent years. Just how meteoric? This past week, we learned that two billionaires — venture capitalist Josh Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger — had to join forces to buy the National Basketball Association’s Los Angeles Lakers for a record-shattering $12.5 billion. Experts attribute the exploding value of sports franchises to a perfect storm of factors, including networks and streaming services’ willingness to pay leagues and teams enormous amounts of money to air live games, and the omnipresence of legalized sports betting, which has opened a new revenue stream for franchises (and has prompted very little philanthropic response, save from Arnold Ventures).
But what does it all mean for these owners’ philanthropic giving?
Sports owners sit on illiquid assets, so the philanthropic implications — at least where team ownership is concerned — typically crystallize when there’s a massive taxable event. For instance, in late 2024, the National Football League approved owner Jeffrey Lurie’s sale of 8% of his stake in the Philadelphia Eagles. Six months later, three affiliated foundations announced a $50 million gift to launch the Lurie Autism Institute at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine.
Most of Lurie’s wealth is tied up in the Eagles, which reflects the situation of some team owners, but contrasts with others. Scan Forbes’ ranking of 2026’s richest sports owners, and you’ll see that most of the prominent entries — Steve Ballmer, Henry Samueli, Dan Gilbert, Steve Cohen, Philip Anschutz — derive their fortunes from companies they worked for or founded. Regardless of where their wealth comes from, owning a team is another way for billionaires to diversify their holdings and, should they ever decide to sell, generate a Tsai-like return that can bankroll their philanthropy.
The following list aims to illustrate the ways that owning a sports team can shape — or not shape — an individual’s giving.
Home Depot cofounder and Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank’s 2019 sale of a minority stake in the franchise dramatically boosted his family foundation’s assets. Billionaire Tilman Fertitta owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets, and while he’s publicly highlighted his philanthropic work with the team and announced a large mega-gift in 2022, he appears to be adhering to a “buy and hold” strategy. Miriam Adelson also shows no signs of selling a stake in the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks — at least publicly — although, unlike Fertitta, she has engaged in substantial giving through her family foundation, suggesting that if she ever sells, she may channel a portion of the proceeds into that vehicle.
The fourth philanthropist, late Microsoft cofounder and Giving Pledge signatory Paul Allen’s sister Jody, is an example of how selling a portion of a franchise to fund one’s charitable endeavors can be scaled to astronomical proportions. Paul Allen’s estate recently sold off two of the teams he owned — the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers and the National Football League’s Seattle Seahawks — for a combined $13.6 billion. In accordance with his will, the proceeds will flow to his foundations.
Arthur Blank
With a Forbes net worth of around $11 billion, the Home Depot cofounder Arthur Blank is the controlling owner of four Atlanta-based sports teams. The National Football League’s Atlanta Falcons, which he purchased for $545 million in 2002, was valued at approximately $8 billion as of last year. The other three are the professional golf team Atlanta Drive GC; Major League Soccer’s Atlanta United; and an expansion team, yet to be named, of the National Women’s Soccer League. Though he doesn’t own 100% of the Falcons, Drive GC or Atlanta United, if Forbes’ estimate is correct, a large part of his net worth is tied up in the teams.
Blank’s philanthropy stands out from that of many other franchise owners for its scale and sophistication. A signatory of the Giving Pledge, Blank gives through the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. Established in 1995, the foundation makes grants across a range of thematic areas, including education, economic development, and mental health, and prioritizes organizations based in greater Atlanta and the state of Montana. It has disbursed close to $2 billion since its inception.
In 2019, Blank sold 10-12% of the Falcons for roughly $300 million and said he planned to direct the proceeds to his foundation. “My (six) kids all want me to do more during my lifetime,” he said at the time. “So they are encouraging me to do more in terms of philanthropy. We hope to get to a significantly higher level in the next four, five years.”
Records show he followed through on his intention. From 2018 to 2020, Blank’s personal contributions to the foundation were $24 million, $45 million, and $268 million, respectively. Meanwhile, the foundation’s assets at the end of the December fiscal year increased 456% from $66 million in 2018 to $366 million in 2020.
For the fiscal year ending December 2024, the foundation received $323 million in contributions from Blank, disbursed $212 million, and ended the year with $466 million in assets. In 2025, it made a $25 million gift to the Fund for a Safer Future, the donor collaborative focused on preventing firearm violence. Later in the year, the foundation, which is a longtime supporter of historically black colleges and universities, announced a $50 million, 10-year scholarship commitment to support students at four Atlanta HBCUs.
The 83-year-old Blank resides in Atlanta, and, as one might expect, his philanthropy will survive him. A little over two years ago, my colleague Ade Adeniji connected with Blank to discuss plans for the family’s next generation of giving. “I’ve said publicly that at least 95% of our family estate will end up in our family foundation in one form or another,” Blank said. “Philanthropy, for me, my children and our staff, has always been important. So as these values have continued to grow, our ability to increase our philanthropy has, as well.”
Tilman Fertitta
Born in Galveston, Texas, the 69-year-old Fertitta is the sole owner of Fertitta Entertainment, which owns the restaurant company Landry’s, Golden Nugget Hotel and Casinos, and the NBA’s Houston Rockets. A donor to both Republican and Democratic politicians, he currently serves as U.S. ambassador to Italy and San Marino.
In 2017, the NBA approved Fertitta’s bid to purchase the Rockets for $2.2 billion — a record for an NBA franchise at the time — beating out a rival investment group that included Beyoncé Knowles. CNBC currently values the team at $6.4 billion. In May of this year, the WNBA and NBA approved Fertitta’s purchase of the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun and his plan to relocate them to Houston in 2027. His net worth has jumped from $2.9 billion in 2017 to approximately $11 billion today, according to Forbes.
Like with Blank, Fertitta’s team ownership stakes make up a good portion of his estimated wealth. But his giving profile looks quite different, and is perhaps more in line with that of the bulk of U.S. billionaires (and team owners) who haven’t built out operations like Blank’s.
In 2000, he and his then-wife Paige — the couple split in 2017 — launched the Tilman and Paige Fertitta Family Foundation. In 2022, he and his family pledged $50 million to the University of Houston College of Medicine, naming the school the Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine. (Fertitta was the chairman of the University of Houston System’s Board of Regents from 2014 to 2025.)
Fertitta’s personal website details more recent philanthropic activities, including a 2025 fundraiser he hosted at his house that raised $2 million for the Rockets’ foundation. He may be engaging in robust personal giving through a donor-advised fund — we have no way of knowing because he wouldn’t be required to disclose the recipients — but he isn’t moving substantial sums of money through the Tilman and Paige Fertitta Family Foundation.
It had $2.5 million in assets at the end of fiscal year December 2024 after disbursing five grants totaling just $94,562, and its combined grantmaking from 2020 to 2024 clocked in at just over $300,000.
Miriam Adelson
Adelson, who Forbes ranked at No. 4 on its list of 2026’s richest sports team owners, further illustrates the diverse ways prominent sports owners in the U.S. approach the question of giving. She is the widow of Sheldon Adelson, the founder and former chairman and CEO of casino company Las Vegas Sands, who passed away in 2021. Forbes pegs her family’s net worth at approximately $34 billion. In 2023, Adelson and her family bought a majority stake in the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks from fellow billionaire Mark Cuban.
Born in Israel and a physician by trade, the 80-year-old Adelson is a prominent Trump megadonor who said last year that she’d spend $250 million to support a third Trump term.
Should she decide to sell part of her stake in the Mavericks at some point, she may pour some of the windfall into her private foundations. The first, the Adelson Family Foundation, primarily supports organizations working to strengthen Israel and Jewish communities. For the fiscal year ending December 2024, the foundation received $87 million in contributions, including $62 million from Miriam, and disbursed $67 million across 55 grants. It ended the year with $21 million in assets. In early August, the foundation announced the appointment of Shoham Nicolet as its next president.
The Adelsons also established the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation, which works in neurology, immunology and oncology. It ended the December 2024 fiscal year with $714,299 after disbursing 38 grants totaling $41 million.
Jody Allen
Jody Allen is the cofounder and president of Allen Family Philanthropies (formerly the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation), and cofounder of the Allen Institute, where she serves as board chair. She also chairs investment and project management company Vale Group LLC, formerly Vulcan Inc., which she cofounded with Paul in 1986.
Paul passed away in 2018, and as the executor and trustee of his estate, the now 67-year-old Jody assumed control of his properties, including the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. She also has a minority ownership interest in Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders.
Allen Family Philanthropies has given more than $1 billion globally since its inception in 1988. The funder prioritizes the Pacific Northwest, especially in its arts and youth portfolios, though its grantmaking extends nationally and internationally. Founded in 2003, the Allen Institute focuses on bioscience research.
Forbes pegs Jody Allen’s net worth at $6.7 billion, and like Jeffrey Lurie and Arthur Blank, she and her brother are striking examples of how sports ownership can boost a philanthropist’s charitable endeavors.
Paul’s will stipulated that his assets be sold to fund his foundations. In March, the NBA approved the estate’s sale of the Trail Blazers to a group of investors for $4 billion. (Allen bought the team for $70 million in 1988.) Four months later, a group led by billionaire venture capitalist and (naturally) San Francisco 49ers minority owner Vinod Khosla agreed to purchase the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Seahawks — which Allen bought for $194 million in 1997 — for $9.6 billion, a record for an NFL franchise. It is expected that Allen’s fellow NFL team owners will approve the sale in late August.
Assuming the deal goes through, the implications for Allen’s philanthropy could be profound. Allen Family Philanthropies and the Allen Institute had $1.4 billion and $367 million in total assets at the end of the fiscal year December 2024, respectively. We expect those numbers to increase, most likely dramatically, in the coming years.
