MLB’s 10 Richest Team Owners Worth Combined $31 Billion In 2020

Major League Baseball owners and players have enjoyed a quarter-century of labor peace that has enriched both sides. The average player salary has tripled since 1998 to more than $4 million last year; thirty-nine players expected to make at least $20 million in salary this season before the coronavirus shuttered the sports calendar, according to the Spotrac database.

It has been an even better run for owners, thanks to the massive influx of money from regional sports networks. Average franchise values are up nearly nine-fold since 1998, or 11% compounded annually, to $1.85 billion. The average annual gain for the S&P 500 during that time: 4.5%.

The top 10 wealthiest owners are now worth a combined $31 billion, by Forbes’ count. That doesn’t include teams like the Toronto Blue Jays and Atlanta Braves, who are owned by media giants Rogers Communications and Liberty Media
FWONK
, respectively. But the issue facing most owners is that the vast majority of their net worth is tied up in illiquid assets, such as their teams or real estate.

Now the two sides are hurtling towards an Armageddon scenario, where the sport doesn’t take the field in 2020, over an inability to agree on player compensation during the global pandemic. The players want owners to honor their March agreement calling for players to receive pro-rated 2020 salaries based on games played. Owners counter that the agreement was based on there being fans in the seats, and cash losses could reach as high as $100 million per team if forced to pay players their full pro-rated salaries, according to their calculations

Last month, MLB told Forbes its 30 teams made only $208 million cumulatively before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization over the last five seasons. After interest payments, the league had a negative cash flow each year, and capital expenditures—$334 million per year—pushed teams even further into the red, per MLB.

Forbes’ estimates annual estimates paint a different picture. By our count, MLB’s Total EBITDA was $5 billion during the period, including profits from non-MLB events. Player costs, which is by far the biggest team expenditure, barely budged during that time period, while leaguewide revenue rose by well over $1 billion.

John Fisher, who owns the Oakland A’s and is worth $2.2 billion, came under fire in late May when his team announced the end of $400-a-week stipends for minor league players, a total tab of roughly $1 million for the rest of the year. The Gap
GPS
heir quickly reversed course after the backlash and reinstated the stipend for the year even though the minor league season is expected to be canceled.

“These players represent our future and clearly our decision to not pay them was a mistake. The truth is that we got this decision wrong, and I apologize to our minor league players and others involved,” said Fisher in a team-issued statement.

Here are baseball’s richest team owners in 2020.

1. Ted Lerner

Net worth: $4.8 billion

Team: Washington Nationals

The 94-year-old Lerner passed daily control of the franchise to his son, Mark, in 2018, the year before the Nats won the first World Series in franchise history. Lerner Enterprises is among the largest owners of real estate in the Washington, D.C area.

2. Charles Johnson

Net worth: $4.5 billion

Team: San Francisco Giants

Johnson is the team’s largest shareholder and part of a group that kept the Giants in San Francisco—avoiding a move to Tampa—when the investors bought the team for $100 million in 1993. His son, Greg, was approved by MLB in November as the team’s day-to-day control person.

3. Marian Ilitch

Net worth: $3.8 billion

Team: Detroit Tigers

The Tigers sit in a family trust to keep it separate from Ilitch’s ownership of the MotorCity Casino Hotel since MLB rules prevent team owners from possessing stakes in casinos. Illitch, who cofounded Little Caesars Pizza in 1959 with her husband Mike (d. 2017), also owns the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings.

4. Arturo “Arte” Moreno

Net worth: $3.3 billion

Team: Los Angeles Angels

Moreno faced the scorn of baseball Twitter last month after aggressively furloughing employees, including many low-paid area scouts. He had just paid $325 million in December for the land around Angel Stadium to potentially build a new venue. Most of Moreno’s net worth is tied up in the Angels, real estate and his stake in the Fox Sports West network.

5. John Middleton

Net worth: $3.3 billion

Team: Philadelphia Phillies

Middleton owns nearly 50% of the Phillies and is the team’s managing partner. His fortune stems from selling his family’s tobacco business to Philip Morris-parent Altria
MO
for $2.9 billion in cash in 2007.

6. John Henry

Net worth: $2.7 billion

Team: Boston Red Sox

Henry’s sports empire also touches soccer (Liverpool), Nascar (Roush Fenway Racing) and TV (NESN). The Red Sox had baseball’s highest payroll each of the past two seasons but planned to slash it by $50 million for 2020. At $186 million, it still would have ranked sixth, based on MLB’s projected opening-day payrolls.

7. J. Joe Ricketts

Net worth: $2.6 billion

Team: Chicago Cubs

The children of the Ameritrade founder run the team, which the family bought, along with Wrigley Field and 25% of regional sports network SportsNet Chicago, for $845 million in 2009. TD Ameritrade
AMTD
’s stock is up 60% from its March lows, helping the Ricketts regain $800 million in net worth, but the stock is still down overall for the year.

8. John Fisher

Net worth: $2.2 billion

Team: Oakland A’s

The A’s and Gap stock are the two biggest assets in Fisher’s portfolio. Neither is healthy. The A’s have MLB’s second-lowest revenue—ahead of only the Miami Marlins—and are in desperate need of a new stadium. Gap’s stock price has rebounded lately, but is still down nearly 30% since the start of the year.

9. Ray Davis

Net worth: $2 billion

Team: Texas Rangers

Davis and fellow billionaire Kelcy Warren founded natural gas distributor and pipeline company Energy Transfer
ET
in 1995 and built it into a giant. Davis stepped down as co-CEO in 2007 but still owns 6% of its shares. The company’s stock has doubled from its March low, adding more than $300 million to Davis’ worth; it is still down 27% on the year.

10. Jerry Reinsdorf

Net worth: $1.5 billion

Team: Chicago White Sox

Reinsdorf is baseball’s second longest-tenured owner after the Steinbrenner-owned New York Yankees. He led a group that paid $20 million in 1981 for a franchise now worth $1.65 billion. His fortune is largely tied up in sports, with the Chicago Bulls as his other major asset.

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