Jed York
Net Worth: $100 million Owns: San Francisco 49ers It seems that the York family are somehow always going to have a link to the San Francisco 49ers NFL team. The son of Denise and John York, the Finance and History graduate had been working as a financial analyst in New York City before going into the family business. And what a business! The family owned the NFL team, the San Francisco 49ers, and brought him on board as the Director of Strategic Planning, before promoting him to VP of Strategic Planning.
He waited a little, and before he knew it he was CEO of the team. To be honest, it doesn’t go to a more deserving guy – especially a guy with as much love for the 49ers as Jed! Once he was in the news for claiming the 49ers would make the playoffs in 2010, despite being behind. But to the shock of many, he was almost right! Talk about faith!
Art Rooney II
Net Worth: $1.2 billion Owns: Pittsburgh Steelers (NFL) Now, the Rooneys have a history with sports. Generations, in fact. The Pittsburgh Steelers have been owned by the Rooneys for many years – and yet another Rooney is at the helm of the ship, bringing us to present day. After serving for decades on the board for the NFL team, the passing of Art Rooney II’s grandfather and then father meant it was his time to take over. The highly successful Pittsburgh Steelers saw Art take over in 2003, which he runs alongside his “side hustle.”
When we say "side hustle", it’s more along the lines of Rooney not wanting to disregard his law degree – he makes use of it providing counsel at the Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney law firm.
Robert McNair
Net Worth: $4 billion Owns: Houston Texans (NFL) Mr. McNair really lives up to the adage of “everything’s bigger in Texas” – apparently that extends to the pay packets and wealth of some individuals hailing from the state. The businessman and philanthropist found his success after founding Cogen Tech, a cogeneration company. With some of the cash, he was able to invest in his beloved sports team, the NFL’s Houston Texans.
The University of South Carolina graduate sold Cogen to Enron in 1999, and also owned a number of power plants across America. His numerous investments and real estate and financial holdings have allowed him to amass a wealth of over $4 billion.
John W. Henry
Net Worth: $2.7 billion Owns: Boston Red Sox (MLB), Roush Fenway Racing (NASCAR) So there’s a little bit of a story here with Henry’s interest in the Boston Red Sox. Initially, Henry entered Major League Baseball by buying a small interest in the Red Sox’s arch-nemesis – the New York Yankees. But that was back in 1991, and Henry jumped ship, venturing over to take over the famous Boston side. It seems that Henry might be even mildly, possibly, lucky, helping the Red Sox to break the “Curse of the Bambino” – in 2004, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series, after a very long 86 years.
Since then, they’ve won another three championships! Aside from baseball, Henry’s got an interest in cars – in his first year of entering NASCAR as an owner, he got a win! And his racing team won the Daytona 500 just two years later. Yeah, he’s definitely lucky. Henry also owns 'The Boston Globe', and he was featured in the award-winning 'Moneyball' film. Not bad at all.
Mark Attanasio
Net Worth: $700 million Owns: Milwaukee Brewers Mark Attanasio has quite the credentials when it comes to higher education. Born in the Bronx, the now-businessman and Milwaukee Brewers owner attended Brown, before moving on to acquire his Juris Doctor in 1982 from Columbia Law School. Who would’ve thought this bright spark would go on to own an MLB team?
Attanasio made his money in finance, in Los Angeles, where he also lives. The senior exec of Trust Co. of the West, as well as for Crescent Capital, Attanasio isn’t short of a buck. It seems that he made quite a fortune to purchase the MLB team for a cool $223 million. Looks like we’re all off to law school and then straight into finance!