They don’t have ratings on Madden and you can’t find their career statistics on the NFL’s website, but the league’s owners still can produce some of the most eye-opening numbers around.
The group is made up of mostly billionaires whose investments in America’s leading sport have further advanced their vast fortunes. This is something to remember as reports circulate about these same owners pursuing cuts in team player costs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even the least wealthy among them — Mark Davis, whose net worth is estimated to be $500 million — controls a Las Vegas Raiders franchise that is valued at nearly $3 billion. Multiple franchises purchased in the earliest days of the league have appreciated more than a million percent.
They don’t wear helmets or pads, but they are among the heaviest hitters in NFL history. (Net worth and franchise valuations according to Forbes unless noted).
Arizona Cardinals
Chairman/CEO: Michael Bidwill
Net worth: $1.4 billion
Purchase price: $50,000 (1932)
Current franchise valuation: $2.25 billion
Value appreciation: 4,499,900%
Annualized appreciation: 13%
How he made his fortune: The Cardinals are the family business. Grandfather Charles Bidwill, a Chicago attorney, bought the team in 1932. Son William Bidwill was the owner until his death last October. He moved the franchise from St. Louis to Arizona in 1988. Michael has been chairman since 2007.
Fast facts: Michael Bidwill was a federal prosecutor before he joined the Cardinals in 1996. “It’s a unique experience that no other owner had,” he told the Arizona Republic in 2014. “There are plenty of lawyers [in the NFL], but none were prosecutors.”
Chairman/CEO: Arthur Blank
Net worth: $5.7 billion
Purchase price: $545 million (2002)
Current franchise valuation: $2.755 billion
Value appreciation: 506%
Annualized appreciation: 9.4%
How he made his fortune: Blank co-founded Home Depot, the home improvement store, in 1978.
Fast facts: Blank signed the Giving Pledge in 2012, promising to give more than half of his wealth to charity. He also owns Atlanta United FC, which won the MLS Cup in the team’s second season in 2018.
Chairman/CEO: Virginia Halas McCaskey
Net worth: $1.3 billion
Purchase price: $100 (1920)
Current franchise valuation: $3.45 billion
Value appreciation: 3,449,990,800%
Annualized appreciation: 19%
How they made their fortune: Rather than the typical route of becoming independently wealthy and then buying a team, the McCaskey family wealth came from operating the Bears for a century. Virginia’s late father, George Halas, bought the team three years before she was born.
Fast facts: McCaskey, 97, is the oldest owner in the league. Her brother, George Halas Jr., had been next in line for ownership, but he died in 1979. McCaskey’s son, George, the team’s chairman, is expected to succeed her. The McCaskeys have been adamant on keeping the Bears ownership in the family, despite having not won a Super Bowl since the 1985 season.
Chairman/CEO: David Tepper
Net worth: $12.7 billion
Purchase price: $2.3 billion (2018)
Current franchise valuation: $2.4 billion
Value appreciation: 4.4%
Annualized appreciation: 2.2%
How he made his fortune: Tepper is an aggressive hedge fund manager considered to be among the best of his generation. At its peak, Tepper’s firm — Appaloosa Management — handled $20 billion. According to CNBC, he is the NFL’s wealthiest owner.
Fast facts: The team’s founding owner, Jerry Richardson, sold the Panthers to Tepper after an investigation revealed Richardson made racist and sexually inappropriate comments in the workplace. Since then, Tepper announced plans to construct a new headquarters in Rock Hill, S.C. He also helped land an expansion MLS team in Charlotte, which is scheduled to begin play in 2021.
Chairman/CEO: Jerry Jones
Net worth: $8 billion
Purchase price: $150 million (1989)
Current franchise valuation: $5.5 billion
Value appreciation: 3,567%
Annualized appreciation: 12.3%
How he made his fortune: Jones established himself in business as an oil wildcatter. His first million-dollar investment came in the 1970s. He still is involved in drilling opportunities, along with retail and residential real estate in Dallas.
Fast facts: Arguably the most powerful and recognizable owner in professional sports, Jones has a reputation as an outspoken, hands-on leader. He runs the Cowboys as a family business, placing his three children — Stephen Jones, Charlotte Jones Anderson and Jerry Jones Jr. — in prominent executive roles. He also was instrumental in pushing for the Rams’ relocation to Los Angeles. Jones was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017.
Chairman/CEO: Sheila Ford Hamp
Net worth: $2 billion
Purchase price: $4.5 million (1964)
Current franchise valuation: $1.95 billion
Value appreciation: 43,233%
Annualized appreciation: 11.5%
How they made their fortune: Ford Hamp’s family runs the Ford Motor Company, headquartered in Michigan. She is a descendant of Henry Ford, the automobile manufacturer credited for inventing the assembly line and producing the Model T, regarded as the earliest car the general public could buy.
Fast facts: Ford Hamp took over as principal owner in June after her 94-year-old mother, Martha Firestone Ford, stepped down after leading the organization for six seasons. Firestone Ford inherited the team when her husband, William Clay Ford, died in March 2014. Hamp Ford has attended league meetings with her mother and had been a sounding board on key organizational decisions.
Chairman/CEO: Green Bay Packers, Inc., Mark Murphy
Net worth: Not available
Purchase price: $100 (1921)
Current franchise valuation: $2.85 billion
Value appreciation: $2,849,999,900
Annualized appreciation: 18.9%
How they made their fortune: Not applicable
Fast facts: Officially, the Packers are owned by hundreds of thousands of public shareholders. A not-for-profit organization, the Green Bay Packers, Inc., hosted stock sales in 1923, 1935, 1950, 1997 and 2011. According to the team’s website, 361,311 people own 5,009,518 Packer shares. Fans don’t earn money for their investments in the team. The franchise is governed by a seven-member executive committee, led by Murphy, the team’s president.
Chairman/CEO: Stan Kroenke
Net worth: $10 billion
Purchase price: $750 million (2010)
Current franchise valuation: $3.8 billion
Value appreciation: 407%
Annualized appreciation: 17.6%
How he made his fortune: Kroenke is a real-estate magnate who also owns the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, the MLS’s Colorado Rapids and the Arsenal Football Club in England. He is married to Ann Walton, the daughter of late Walmart co-founder Bud Walton.
Fast facts: Kroenke has an affinity for large ranches. In 2017, Business Insider ranked him fourth among the largest landowners in the United States at 1.38 million acres. He also owns the Screaming Eagle winery in Napa Valley, which produces very expensive wines. Kroenke’s SoFi Stadium, scheduled to open this season, was originally estimated to cost $2.6 billion to build. Four years later, that estimate is $5 billion.
Chairman/CEO: Zygi Wilf
Net worth: $1.3 billion (per Celebrity Net Worth)
Purchase price: $600 million (2005)
Current franchise valuation:$2.7 billion
Value appreciation: 350%
Annualized appreciation: 10.6%
How they made their fortune: The Wilf family business is Garden Homes, a nationwide leader in retail, commercial and private residential development. Wilf’s father, Joseph, was a Holocaust survivor and immigrated to the United States shortly after Zygi’s birth in 1950.
Fast facts: In 2013, a New Jersey judge found the Wilf family guilty of fraud, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and violating the state’s civil racketeering statute for cheating two former business partners out of revenue for an apartment complex. The lawsuit played out in court for more than 20 years. An appellate court ordered the Wilfs to pay the defendants $32 million.
Chairman/CEO: Gayle Benson
Net worth: $3.2 billion
Purchase price: $70.2 million (1985)
Current franchise valuation: $2.275 billion
Value appreciation: 3,141%
Annualized appreciation: 10.5%
How she made her fortune: Benson spent more than 30 years working in the interior design business. She married Tom Benson, a businessman and owner of multiple car dealerships, in 2004, to become his third wife. She inherited the Saints and the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans in 2018 after Tom died.
Fast facts: A devote Catholic, Benson admitted in January that Saints personnel gave public relations advice to the Archdiocese of New Orleans amid a sexual abuse crisis, angering some survivors.
Chairman/CEO: John Mara/Steven Tisch
Net worth: $500 million/$1.2 billion (per Celebrity Net Worth)
Purchase price: $500 (1925)/$150 million (1991)
Current franchise valuation: $3.9 billion
Value appreciation: 779,999,900%/2,500%
Annualized appreciation: 18.2%/11.9%
How they made their fortunes: Mara, a former labor lawyer, is the grandson of original team investor Timothy Mara and the oldest son of Wellington Mara. Tisch, a successful movie producer, is a son of Bob Tisch, co-founder of the Loews Corp, which bought a 50% stake in the team in 1991.
Fast facts: Among movies Tisch co-produced was Academy Award winner “Forrest Gump.” Mara also has a Hollywood connection as the uncle of actresses Rooney and Kate Mara.
Chairman/CEO: Jeffrey Lurie
Net Worth: $2.7 billion
Purchase price: $185 million (1994)
Current franchise valuation: $3.05 billion
Value appreciation: 1,549%
Annualized appreciation: 11.4%
How he made his fortune: Lurie started his career as a social policy professor at Boston University. He later pivoted to film and entertainment, taking an executive role at General Cinema Corporation, a company started by his grandfather. Two years later, he founded Chestnut Hill Productions.
Fast facts: Lurie won the 2011 “Best Documentary Feature” Academy Award for “Inside Job,” which was based on the 2008 financial crisis. In July, after Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson posted an anti-Semitic quote on Instagram, Lurie announced his new production company, Play/Action Pictures, would release its first documentary based on the award-winning book, “The Meaning of Hitler.”
Chairman/CEO: Denise DeBartolo York, John York
Net worth: $3.2 billion
Purchase price: $13 million (1977)
Current franchise valuation: $3.5 billion
Value appreciation: 26,823%
Annualized appreciation: 13.9%
How they made their fortunes: Denise is the granddaughter of Edward DeBartolo Sr., an Ohio-based construction magnate and commercial real estate developer who purchased the team. She is the sister of Edward DeBartolo Jr. She took control of the team in 2001 in the wake of her brother’s legal troubles. She married John York, a pathologist, in 1978.
Fast facts: Denise was president of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins when they won the Stanley Cup in 1991. Jed York, the oldest of Denise and John’s four children, serves as the 49ers’ CEO. He hired coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch, who guided the 49ers to the Super Bowl last season.
Chairman/CEO: Paul G. Allen Trust/Jody Allen
Net worth: $20.3 billion
Purchase price: $194 million (1997)
Current franchise valuation: $2.775 billion
Value appreciation: 1,330%
Annualized appreciation: 6.4%
How they made their fortune: Paul Allen, who died in 2018, co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates. He also owned the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers and was part owner of the MLS’s Seattle Sounders. His sister Jody chairs the Seahawks and the Trail Blazers and also philanthropy-centered Vulcan Inc. “We work with partners to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges facing oceans, climate, conservation, and communities,” Vulcan’s website says.
Fast facts: Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said one of his favorite moments with Paul Allen came after the team won Super Bowl XLVIII. At the team’s victory party, Allen performed on stage. “He thought he was Eddie Vedder or something up there,” Carroll told reporters after Allen’s death. “He was going.”
Chairman/CEO: Bryan Glazer, Darcie Glazer Kassewitz, Edward Glazer, Joel Glazer
Net worth: $4.7 billion
Purchase price: $192 million (1995)
Current franchise valuation: $2.2 billion
Value appreciation: 1,046%
Annualized appreciation: 10.3%
How they made their fortune: The Glazers inherited their wealth from their father, Malcolm, a real estate mogul who died in 2014. Forbes estimates that the family’s holding company owns more than 6 million square feet of shopping centers across the United States.
Fast facts: The Glazers also own the Manchester United soccer team. Malcolm Glazer started buying shares of the team in 2003. He gained control in 2005 by purchasing 75% of the stock. The team is now valued at $3.8 billion.
Chairman/CEO: Dan Snyder
Net worth: $2.6 billion
Purchase price: $750 million (1999)
Current franchise valuation: $3.4 billion
Value appreciation: 353%
Annualized appreciation: 7.4%
How he made his fortune: Snyder dropped out of the University of Maryland to run a business he created. He took the company, Snyder Communications, public in 1996 and then sold $2.1 billion in stock in 2000.
Fast facts: Snyder for years insisted he would not change the team’s nickname, which activists contend is racist. But with the U.S. wrestling with its racial history in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, FedEx, the Washington franchise’s lead sponsor, asked that the name be removed. Snyder since has complied, though a new nickname has yet to be announced.
Baltimore Ravens
Chairman/CEO: Stephen Bisciotti
Net worth: $4.7 billion
Purchase price: $600 million (2004)
Current franchise valuation: $2.75 billion
Value appreciation: 358%
Annualized appreciation: 10%
How he made his fortune: He and his cousin, fellow billionaire Jim Davis, started what is now called Allegis Group in a basement in the mid-1980s and have grown the company into the largest staffing firm in the U.S.
Fast facts: When Bisciotti took over as controlling owner of the Ravens, it ended the reign of Art Modell, who, in 1995, infamously moved the franchise to Baltimore from Cleveland, where they were the original — and beloved — Browns. At the time, Bisciotti called the $600-million transaction an “average financial deal.” Among his other grown-up toys, he owns a $20-million, 130-foot yacht called “Winning Drive.”
Chairman/CEO: Terry and Kim Pegula
Net worth: $5.1 billion
Purchase price: $1.4 billion (2014)
Current franchise valuation: $1.9 billion
Value appreciation: 35.7%
Annualized appreciation: 5.2%
How they made their fortune: Terry Pegula amassed his billions in fracking, an oil and natural gas production technique. He sold the bulk of the assets of his company, East Resources, to Royal Dutch Shell in 2010 for $4.7 billion.
Fast facts: In purchasing the Bills six years ago, the Pegulas outbid groups led by Donald Trump and Bon Jovi. The purchase was hailed by the team’s western New York fans, who had feared the franchise might be relocated. In fact, the concern about Bon Jovi moving the Bills to Toronto was so real that local radio stations and bars stopped playing his music. The Pegulas also own the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres.
Chairman/CEO: Mike Brown
Net worth: $925 million (per ESPN)
Purchase price: $7.5 million (1967)
Current franchise valuation: $2 billion
Value appreciation: 26.567%
Annualized appreciation: 11.1%
How he made his fortune: Brown’s father, Paul, helped found the Bengals. Paul Brown eventually became coach and general manager of the team and had autonomy over the football and business operations. Over time, the family bought a majority interest in the franchise.
Fast facts: Brown assumed control of the Bengals after his father died in August 1991. His first significant move was firing popular head coach Sam Wyche and then attempting to sell the notion that Wyche resigned. Since Brown took over, the team has had only seven winning seasons and zero playoff victories. Brown graduated in 1957 from Dartmouth, where he played quarterback. One summer when he was young, Brown was hired to work on one of George Steinbrenner’s ships.
Chairman/CEO: Jimmy and Dee Haslam
Net worth: $2.9 billion
Purchase price: $1.05 billion (2012)
Current franchise valuation: $2.175 billion
Value appreciation: 107%
Annualized appreciation: 9.5%
How they made their fortune: Haslam is the CEO of Pilot Flying J, yes, the truck stop company you’ve driven past at 70 mph who knows how many times. The empire was founded in 1958 by his father, Jim. Berkshire Hathaway paid a reported $2.8 billion for 39% of Pilot three years ago.
Fast facts: In 2008, Haslam made his debut as an NFL owner when he purchased a small stake in the Pittsburgh Steelers. He sold that interest when he took over the Browns. While attending the University of Tennessee, Haslam was a roommate of Bob Corker, who went on to become a U.S. Senator. Haslam also owns the MLS’s Columbus Crew. His brother, Bill, was the governor of Tennessee from 2011-2019.
Chairman/CEO: The Pat Bowlen Trust, Joe Ellis
Net worth: $1 billion
Purchase price: $78 million (1984)
Current franchise valuation: $3 billion
Value appreciation: 3,746%
Annualized appreciation: 10.7%
How he made his fortune: Pat Bowlen’s father, Paul, was a millionaire in the Canadian oil business. Pat had a successful law practice in Edmonton and also worked as an executive for his father’s company, Regent Drilling, and as a real estate developer.
Fast facts: Suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, Pat Bowlen officially relinquished control of the franchise to team president Joe Ellis in 2014. Bowlen died five years later. Ellis remains in charge of the day-to-day operations, with general manager John Elway handling the football side. It is believed that Bowlen’s daughter Brittany eventually will assume the role of controlling owner. Pat Bowlen is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His father, Paul, is in the Canadian Petroleum Hall of Fame.
Chairman/CEO: Janice McNair
Net worth: $4 billion
Purchase price: $600 million (1999)
Current franchise valuation: $3.1 billion
Value appreciation: 417%
Annualized appreciation: 8.1%
How she made her fortune: McNair’s husband, Bob, was the Texans’ original owner when he was awarded an expansion franchise in 1999. She inherited the team after he died in November of 2018. Bob McNair sold Cogen Technologies — then the largest privately owned energy cogeneration company in the world — to Enron for $1.5 billion in 1999.
Fast facts: The McNairs met while attending college in South Carolina in the late 1950s. Bob McNair was one of the league’s most influential owners and a staunch believer in players standing during the national anthem. During an owners meeting in 2017, he infamously made a reference to the “inmates running the prison” in regards to players kneeling. He later apologized. One of the McNairs’ sons, Cal, is chairman and CEO of the Texans and runs the day-to-day operations.
Chairman/CEO: Jim Irsay
Net worth: $3 billion
Purchase price: $14 million (1972)
Current franchise valuation: $2.65 billion
Value appreciation: 18,829%
Annualized appreciation: 11.5%
How he made his fortune: Jim Irsay inherited the franchise — and his money — from his father, Robert, who died in 1997. Robert, a Chicago-based industrialist, built his fortune mostly on various heating and air-conditioning businesses and a sheet-metal company.
Fast facts: In 1972, Robert Irsay bought the Los Angeles Rams for $19 million and then traded the team to Carroll Rosenbloom in exchange for the Baltimore Colts. Jim Irsay played football at Southern Methodist. He grew up with the Colts and joined the team shortly after college, working in everything from ticket sales to public relations. In 1984, he was named general manager at age 24. Irsay owns guitars from several rock legends, including Prince, Bob Dylan and Jerry Garcia. He also appeared in an episode of the TV show “Parks and Recreation.”
Chairman/CEO: Shahid Khan
Net worth: $8 billion
Purchase price: $770 million (2011)
Current franchise valuation: $2.325 billion
Value appreciation: 202%
Annualized appreciation: 13.1%
How he made his fortune: Khan is an engineer who bought Illinois-based Flex-N-Gate, an auto parts supplier, in 1980. Shortly before that, he designed a one-piece truck bumper that became the industry standard and the foundation for an operation that now has more than 60 plants worldwide.
Fast facts: A longtime U.S. citizen, Khan grew up in Pakistan and, at age 16, started his first American job — washing dishes for $1.20 an hour in Champaign, Ill. Khan also owns a 312-foot yacht called “Kismet” that took six years to build and has hosted the likes of Beyoncé and Jay Z. His son, Tony, founded All Elite Wrestling, which is a competitor to WWE.
Chairman/CEO: Clark Hunt
Net worth: $15.3 billion
Purchase price: $25,000 (1960)
Current franchise valuation: $2.3 billion
Value appreciation: 9,199,900%
Annualized appreciation: 21.1%
How they made their fortune: In a word: oil. The Hunts are one of the wealthiest families in America. Their patriarch, H.L. Hunt, was said to be the inspiration for the character J.R. Ewing of the popular 1980s TV show “Dallas.” He was a gambler who used poker winnings to purchase untapped but soon-to-be-fertile Texas land. Clark Hunt is the son of Lamar Hunt, who was one of H.L.’s 14 children. The family remains active in the oil and gas businesses, as well in real estate. They also own FC Dallas of MLS and a minority stake in the Chicago Bulls.
Fast facts: Lamar Hunt helped launch the American Football League and founded the Dallas Texans, who won the 1962 AFL title and then moved to Kansas City and became the Chiefs. Among his many accomplishments, he is credited with inventing the term “Super Bowl.” Clark Hunt took over operation of the Chiefs in 2005. Lamar died in December 2006.
Chairman/CEO: Mark Davis
Net worth: $500 million (per Celebrity Net Worth)
Purchase price: $180,000 (1966)
Current franchise valuation: $2.9 billion
Value appreciation: 1,611,011%
Annualized appreciation: 19.7%
How he made his fortune: Al Davis, Mark’s father, was an assistant coach at USC and with the Chargers before becoming a player personnel assistant, a head coach, a general manager, the AFL commissioner and then eventually owner of the Raiders.
Fast facts: Mark and his mother Carol Davis inherited the franchise after Al died in October of 2011. Al positioned himself as managing general partner of the franchise in 1972 but would not acquire a near-majority interest in the team until 2005. Mark has worked exclusively for the Raiders throughout his adult life, including stints in the equipment department and retail sales.
Chairman/CEO: Dean Spanos
Net worth: $2.4 billion
Purchase price: $72 million (1984)
Current franchise valuation: $2.5 billion
Value appreciation: 3,372%
Annualized appreciation: 10.4%
How he made his fortune: In 1960, Dean’s father, Alex, founded AG Spanos Companies and would become one of the most prominent apartment developers in the country. The company remains among America’s largest family-owned businesses. Alex died in 2018. The figure above represents the family’s net worth.
Fast facts: After failing to secure a new stadium in San Diego, Dean Spanos moved the Chargers to Los Angeles before the 2017 season. His sons, John and A.G., have handled most of the day-to-day operations of the franchise for the past five years. One of Dean’s most notable moments since the L.A. relocation came in the form of an obscenity-filled tirade last year after a report surfaced about the franchise potentially moving again — to London.
Chairman/CEO: Stephen Ross
Net worth: $7.6 billion
Purchase price: $1.1 billion (2008)
Current franchise valuation: $2.76 billion
Value appreciation: 151%
Annualized appreciation: 8%
How he made his fortune: Ross was a tax attorney before founding Related Companies, an affordable-housing developer, in 1972. The company has developed or acquired $60 billion worth of property all over the world. His other financial interests include several restaurants and the Equinox Fitness brand.
Fast facts: Ross received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and has donated in excess of $350 million to the institution. Michigan’s business school bears his name. He also holds a master’s degree in law from New York University. Ross was once a minority partner with the New York Islanders and made an unsuccessful bid for the New York Jets in 1999.
Chairman/CEO: Robert Kraft
Net worth: $6.9 billion
Purchase price: $172 million (1994)
Current franchise valuation: $4.1 billion
Value appreciation: 2,749%
Annualized appreciation: 13.8%
How he made his fortune: Kraft sold newspapers growing up and then amassed a fortune as the owner of paper and packaging companies Rand-Whitney and International Forest Products. He owns 50% of another paper company called New-Indy.
Fast facts: Kraft also owns the MLS’s New England Revolution, has a stake in UFC and founded a Boston-based video-gaming team that is part of the Overwatch e-sports league. He once owned the Boston Lobsters of World Team Tennis. Since Kraft took over, the Patriots have won six Super Bowls and become the model franchise for sustained success in a league built to encourage competitive balance.
Chairman/CEO: Christopher Johnson
Net worth: $6.3 billion
Purchase price: $635 million (2000)
Current franchise valuation: $3.2 billion
Value appreciation: 404%
Annualized appreciation: 8.4%
How he made his fortune: Johnson is an heir to the Johnson & Johnson empire. His great-grandfather founded the company and his grandfather grew it into a global icon. The family’s net worth remains a bit of a mystery, with the $6.3-billion figure considered by most to be a conservative estimate.
Fast facts: Christopher Johnson assumed control of the Jets three years ago when his brother Woody became the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom. Woody is eventually expected to rejoin the team as the controlling partner, perhaps as early as November. Since the Johnsons took over, the Jets have had little success. They’ve gone through six head coaches and haven’t reached the playoffs since the 2010 season.
Chairman/CEO: Art Rooney II
Net worth: $1.2 billion
Purchase price: $2,500 (1933)
Current franchise valuation: $2.8 billion
Value appreciation: 111,999,900%
Annualized appreciation: 17.4%
How he made his fortune: Art Rooney II’s grandfather, Art Rooney Sr., founded the Steelers — as the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 10-team NFL in 1933 — and grew the operation into a financial empire as franchise values swelled over several decades.
Fast facts: Art Rooney II’s father, Dan, was the longtime chairman of the Steelers. The oldest of Dan’s nine children, Art was named team president in 2003. Before his death in 2017, Dan Rooney spent more than six decades with the Steelers and saw the franchise win six Super Bowls. Both he and Art Rooney Sr. are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Chairman/CEO: Amy Adams Strunk
Net worth: $1.3 billion
Purchase price: $25,000 (1959)
Current franchise valuation: $2.15 billion
Value appreciation: 8,599,900%
Annualized appreciation: 20.5%
How she made her fortune: Adams Strunk’s father, Bud, was one of the founders of the AFL and the Titans franchise, which started as the Houston Oilers. Bud Adams made his money in the petroleum business. Along with her family’s wealth, Adams Strunk founded Kenada Farms and the Little River Oil and Gas Company.
Fast facts: Adams Strunk inherited the team after her father died in 2013. Before becoming the controlling partner, she never had worked in football. Adams Strunk also has owned car dealerships and been a horse breeder. Because she rarely grants interviews, she is considered to be one the NFL’s most anonymous owners.
A team-by-team look at the billionaire MLB team owners who brought baseball to the brink during negotiations with players to launch a 2020 season.
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