Top 5 businessmen in the Sports Industry: Jerry Buss, George Steinbrenner, Eddie DeBartolo Jr., Walter Brown, Peter Pocklington
There are many men in the sports industry who are rich, famous and glamorous; some seem to come under the spotlight occasionally, but some are great at staying away from it. Here is a list of the top businessmen in sports:
Jerry Buss owns Los Angeles Lakers, which is one of the most feared teams in the National Basket ball League (NBA) of America, along with Los Angeles Kings, a team which plays for the National Hockey League (NHL). He is one of the most glamorous entrepreneurs in the sports industry; he could easily put Hugh Hefner in a complex. He is not only one of the most powerful men in sports; he is extremely well-educated, as he has done his PhD in Physical Chemistry. Jerry Buss literally knows how to play his cards well, as he is an avid player of poker and finished in the top 3 at World Series Poker. He is not only a well educated man but has manoeuvred his basketball team into winning 10 NBA championship titles.
One of the most recognized teams in Major League Baseball (MLB) is New York Yankees, whose owner is George Steinbrenner. George died due to a heart attack on July 13th, 2010. He was praised as one of the most controversial and victorious owners in sports history. George was extremely ambitious and did not know what the word ‘lose’ meant. George Steinbrenner, who is known as ‘The Boss’, might not have won many games with the New York Yankees, but he certainly took the spotlight each year. He was widely known to be a pompous man for his rude behaviour with his managers. He also appeared on one of the most popular American TV shows, Saturday Night Live (SNL), where he made fun of himself. George has managed to win seven World Series ever since he bought Yankees in the early 60’s. He also signed a deal with Adidas for $97M in 1997. Steinbrenner is also the founder of Yankees Entertainment and Sports (YES Network), which he stared after having a feud with MSG over cable. George Steinbrenner held a poor reputation for being arrogant, but he was smart man who grew Yankees’ worth from being a $10M franchise to $1.2 billion one.
Eddie DeBartolo Jr. is best known as the former owner of National Football League’s team San Francisco 49ers, which his sister owns now. He is also known for his luxurious lifestyle, being the bad boy that he is by breaking laws. Although everything seemed to be going well for him, he lost he lost his position as the owner of the 49ers to his sister Marie Denise DeBartolo York after a legal dispute, in which part of the settlement was to give up control over the 49ers, and he was barred from NFL. He was also charged with failing to report a felony in which he had to pay a $1 million fine with two years of probation. Despite all this, he was inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame, being the first person ever to land there who has not coached or has not competed as an athlete.
Walter Brown was another owner of a basketball franchise and is also considered to be a legend. Brown owned Boston Celtics and was the main man who helped with the development of Ice Hockey in the U.S.A. Although he died in 1964, since then his team has won 17 NBA National titles. He helped build the first dynasty in the NBA along with Bill Russell, who has won more NBA championship titles than anyone in the league to date. Walter was also the man who prohibited Koreans to run in the Boston Marathon which was held in 1951. He has been inducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame (1962), the Basketball Hall of Fame (1965), and the IIHF Hall of Fame (1997).
Peter Pocklington was one of the most detested men in the history of the National Hockey League (NHL) by the Canadians. He is best known for being the former owner of the Edmonton Oilers hockey team. He is hated as much as LeBron James, or perhaps even more, because he traded Wayne Gretzky, who is known to be the Michael Jordon of Ice Hockey to the Los Angeles Kings. Wayne aka the Great One was a Canadian and brought 4 Stanley Cups to his hometown out of five playoffs that he played for the Oilers, but the national treasure was traded off by Pocklington. Peter is also known for his fraudulent behaviour and was arrested on March 11th in 2009 at Palm Desert, California for making false statements in which he claimed he was bankrupt.
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