The rich get richer off their teams

Forbes magazine’s annual list of the world’s richest people includes several who own sports teams, among them billionaires who rely on sports for most of their fortunes.

They include Roman Abramovich, a Russian oil financier with a net worth of $18.7 billion who spent a small portion of his fortune to buy the U.K. soccer team Chelsea in 2003.

Another soccer team, A.C. Milan, is headed by Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s richest man with a net worth Forbes estimates at $11.8 billion.

Among U.S. billionaires, most of the $1.4-billion fortune of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft reflects the value of the NFL team, which he bought in 1994 for $172 million.

It’s a similar story in Dallas. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones bought the team for $158 million in 1989 and, three Super Bowl victories later, “nearly all of Jones’ $1.5-billion net worth is derived from the Cowboys,” the magazine said.

Michael Ilitch used proceeds from his Little Caesar’s Pizza chain to buy hockey’s Detroit Red Wings for $8 million in 1982 and baseball’s Detroit Tigers a decade later for $82 million. Forbes figures they are now worth $293 million and $357 million, respectively.

Trivia time

When legendary pitcher Satchel Paige, at age 58, pitched his last big-league game for the then-Kansas City Athletics in September 1965, he threw three scoreless innings and gave up just one hit to a 26-year-old outfielder who also would later be elected to the Hall of Fame. Can you name him?

Out front

Formula One rookie sensation Lewis Hamilton was named sportsman of the year by the U.K.’s Sports Journalists Assn.

The British driver led the auto-racing series’ points standings going into the final race in Brazil but finished a point behind world champion Kimi Raikkonen.

The first black driver in Formula One history, Hamilton, 22, won four of the season’s 17 races for his McLaren Mercedes team. He also became the first rookie to finish in the top three in each of his first nine events.

Hamilton became the first Formula One driver to receive the award since James Hunt in 1976.

Disaster costs

Brazil’s worst soccer disaster is going to cost the Bahia state team.

The nation’s top sports tribunal fined the club $45,500 and suspended the team from playing seven home matches following a stadium collapse there last month that killed seven people, according to the Associated Press.

The tribunal ruled Bahia was responsible for securing fan safety during the Nov. 25 match against Vila Nova.

A seating section at the Fonte Nova stadium in Salvador collapsed late in the match. Victims fell nearly 50 feet through a 10-foot wide hole that opened in the concrete stands. Bahia state officials said the stadium would be torn down.

In a report issued last month, architects said the stadium was in the worst condition of 29 Brazilian soccer stadiums surveyed ahead of the 2014 World Cup. But Brazilian officials said they did not plan to host Cup games at Fonte Nova.

More dog days

Jerome Mathis, a Houston Texans receiver and kick returner, received a misdemeanor citation after his pit bull chewed through a fence and behaved aggressively, the Associated Press reported.

Mathis was cited for allowing the dog to roam near the suburb of Manvel, a misdemeanor that carries a fine of up to $500, according to Brazoria County Sheriff’s Capt. Chris Kincheloe.

Animal-control officers captured the dog and returned it to Mathis, who apologized. “It was an accident,” Kincheloe said. “He didn’t mean for this to happen.”

Trivia answer

Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox, who doubled against Paige in the first inning. Paige made it to Cooperstown in 1971, Yaz in 1989.

And finally

Former Seattle Seahawks place-kicker Norm Johnson helped rescue a woman from her overturned car in Silverdale, Wash. Johnson, who also played for Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, was driving his son to school when he saw that the car had skidded on black ice and landed upside down in a water-filled ditch. He broke the car’s glass with a large rock. “She climbed out, I gave her a hug and she was just really scared,” Johnson said.

james.peltz@latimes.com