Page 109 - OCEAN BLUE - SUMMER 2018

is the only soccer club to be featured twice on this list due to PORTFOLIO
the prominence of super-rich they-shall-remain-nameless
American and Russian owners. www.OceanBlueWorld.com | 109
In the U.S. one must be insanely rich to afford a franchise in
any of the three major American sports: football, basketball
and baseball. Take the Dallas Cowboys of the National
Football League as an example. Dubbed ‘America’s team’, a
fan and businessman bought the Cowboys in 1989 for $150
million U.S. This was a pretty good deal because in this case,
the stadium was included. That move allowed the Jones’ to
maximize their profit potential once the team improved its play
and fans started to return. Now that $150 million investment is
supposedly worth $1.8 billion.
A Microsoft co-founder owns two professional teams. In 1988,
he bought the National Basketball Association’s Portland
Trailblazers for $70 million U.S. Nine years later, he dropped
another $200 million U.S. for the National Football League’s
Seattle Seahawks. Today, these investments are worth $356
million U.S. and $994 million U.S. respectively.
Consequently the price to attend professional sports events
has skyrocketed. Between player’s salaries and the insane cost
of the franchise itself, owners are diligently working to recoup
their investments. Back in 2014, when asked if sports teams
were a good investment, billionaire and philanthropist Warren
Buffett explained,

"They're kind of like art. I mean, they go up in value
because there's just a lot of rich people that want to
own one, and there's more rich people than there are
teams. So, they compete for them. Some of them don't
make much money, as you know, but if you've
got a lot of money, what are you gonna do with
it? Some people buy art, some people buy houses,
some people buy boats. I invest, but I'm different."
If one cannot afford the investment, there is always the
possibility of joining a crowd-funding platform where there is
a different type of team spirit.