There was a time not too long ago when sports teams were considered a billionaire's ultimate luxury purchase. Sports was the one area where the super wealthy could still be super fans. But in recent years, the business side of owning a sports franchise has started to overshadow that fun. Money has been flowing into sports, notably from corporate sponsorships, brand new stadiums, and massive television contracts and billionaires are taking notice.
10. Micky Arison
Team: Miami Heat
Net worth: $5.7 billion
Net worth: $5.7 billion
Carnival Cruises, the company founded by the father of current boss Micky Arison, had a shipwreck of year, at least in terms of public relations. In February 2012 32 passengers were killed when a ship on its Costa line, the Concordia, ran aground in Tuscany. A year later, 4,000 passengers were stranded for days in the Gulf of Mexico with little food and few working bathrooms after an engine fire crippled its ship, Triumph. The stock was immediately slammed but had run up nicely (20%) in the prior 12 months on optimism about renewed consumer spending on vacations. Another positive development on dry land: Arison's NBA team, the Miami Heat, won the 2012 NBA championship, helping boost the franchise's value by 37% to $625 million.