Rob Walton, the Walmart heir who led the 2022 purchase of the Denver Broncos, is the richest NFL owner as of November 2026, with a fortune we estimate at about $145 billion. That is more than the next five owners on this list combined. Below we rank the ten wealthiest individual owners of NFL teams by personal net worth, counting controlling owners and the lead investors of each ownership group.
A quick note on who qualifies. We rank people, not families or estates. Teams held by a family trust or a late owner’s estate appear under special mentions, because there is no single person whose balance sheet we can value. The Green Bay Packers have no owner to rank at all, since roughly half a million fans hold their shares.
| Rank | Name | Net worth (USD) | Main source of wealth |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Josh Harris | $11 billion | Apollo Global Management, sports teams |
| 9 | Jimmy Haslam | $11.5 billion | Pilot truck stops, Cleveland Browns |
| 8 | Arthur Blank | $13 billion | Home Depot, Atlanta Falcons |
| 7 | Robert Kraft | $15 billion | Kraft Group, New England Patriots |
| 6 | Shahid Khan | $16 billion | Flex-N-Gate auto parts, Jacksonville Jaguars |
| 5 | Stephen Ross | $20 billion | Related Companies real estate, Miami Dolphins |
| 4 | Jerry Jones | $22 billion | Dallas Cowboys, oil and gas |
| 3 | Stan Kroenke | $26 billion | Real estate, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment |
| 2 | David Tepper | $27 billion | Appaloosa Management hedge fund |
| 1 | Rob Walton | $145 billion | Walmart shares |
The 10 richest NFL owners, ranked
10. Josh Harris: $11 billion
Harris made his money in private equity. He co-founded Apollo Global Management in 1990 with Leon Black and Marc Rowan, and Apollo shares still make up a large part of his fortune. After stepping back from Apollo in 2022 he started 26North, a newer investment firm.
Sports came first as a hobby and then as a second career. Harris and partner David Blitzer built Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and the New Jersey Devils. In 2023 his group paid $6.05 billion for the Washington Commanders, at the time the most money ever paid for a North American sports team. The Commanders reached the NFC Championship Game two seasons later, which did the franchise value no harm.
The estimate is built from his Apollo stake at market prices, his share of the Commanders and the HBSE teams, and his 26North interest, minus the debt used for the Washington deal. Outside figures for Harris run from $10.2 billion to $11.8 billion.
9. Jimmy Haslam: $11.5 billion
Jimmy Haslam grew up inside the family business. His father opened a single Virginia gas station in 1958, and Jimmy spent decades turning Pilot into the biggest truck-stop chain in North America after the 2010 merger with Flying J. Berkshire Hathaway bought into the company in stages starting in 2017 and took full control in early 2024, which converted most of the Haslams’ stake into cash.
He and his wife, Dee, bought the Cleveland Browns in 2012 for about $1 billion. The couple also own Major League Soccer’s Columbus Crew and hold a minority stake in the Milwaukee Bucks. In 2025 and 2026 the Browns pushed ahead with plans for a domed stadium in suburban Brook Park, a project priced in the billions.
Our figure starts with the Pilot sale proceeds, then adds the Browns at current NFL franchise values and the smaller sports holdings. Published estimates for the family range from about $8.7 billion to $12.2 billion, the higher figure reflecting this year’s jump in NFL team values. We sit toward the top of that range.
8. Arthur Blank: $13 billion
Blank was fired from a Los Angeles hardware chain in 1978. The next year he and Bernie Marcus opened the first two Home Depot stores in Atlanta. The company now has more than 2,300 stores, and Blank’s remaining shares are still worth billions.
The Atlanta Falcons cost him about $545 million in 2002. He later added Atlanta United of MLS, which set attendance records from its first season, and built Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home to both teams. The stadium hosts the 2028 Super Bowl and World Cup matches in 2026. Blank has also signed the Giving Pledge, promising to give away most of his fortune, much of it through his family foundation.
Home Depot stock, the Falcons at today’s NFL prices and Atlanta United carry most of the weight in our number. Published figures for Blank sit between $10.5 billion and $13.5 billion, and we sit near the top because Falcons and Atlanta United values kept climbing.
7. Robert Kraft: $15 billion
Robert Kraft made his first money in paper. His Rand-Whitney packaging business and International Forest Products, a paper trading company, became the core of the privately held Kraft Group. He bought the stadium lease first, then the New England Patriots themselves in 1994 for about $172 million.
Six Super Bowl titles later, the Patriots rank among the most valuable teams in sports. The Kraft Group also owns the New England Revolution, Gillette Stadium and the surrounding Patriot Place shopping and entertainment complex. Kraft is now in his mid-eighties and has handed day-to-day control to his son Jonathan.
The Patriots account for most of this number. We added Patriot Place, the stadium, the Revolution and the packaging and paper companies, using private-company multiples for the last two.
6. Shahid Khan: $16 billion
Khan arrived in the United States from Pakistan at 16 to study engineering at the University of Illinois. He went to work for Flex-N-Gate, a car bumper maker, then started his own bumper company and bought his former employer in 1980. Today Flex-N-Gate supplies parts to most of the world’s big carmakers and books billions of dollars in annual sales.
Football followed. Khan paid about $770 million for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2012 and added English soccer club Fulham the year after. His son Tony co-founded the wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling with family money. Khan is also behind a large redevelopment of Jacksonville’s riverfront and the Jaguars’ stadium renovation.
Flex-N-Gate is private, so we valued it on auto-supplier earnings multiples, then added the Jaguars, Fulham and AEW. Other valuations of Khan land between $14.3 billion and $16.2 billion.
5. Stephen Ross: $20 billion
Ross started out as a tax lawyer, then founded Related Companies in 1972 with a focus on affordable housing. Related grew into one of the biggest property developers in the country. Its best-known project, Hudson Yards on Manhattan’s west side, is one of the largest private real estate developments in American history.
Ross picked up half of the Miami Dolphins and their stadium in 2008 and took full control the next year, for a total of about $1.1 billion. Since then he has spent heavily on Hard Rock Stadium, which also hosts the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix that his company brought to town. Related also co-owns the fitness chain Equinox.
Related’s equity is the biggest piece, valued on its property portfolio net of debt. The Dolphins, the stadium and the Grand Prix make up most of the rest. Estimates published in 2026 run from $16.9 billion to $21.5 billion, and the higher, more recent figures reflect rising NFL franchise values.
4. Jerry Jones: $22 billion
Jerry Jones made his first fortune in oil and gas in Arkansas. In 1989 he bought the Dallas Cowboys and their stadium lease for about $140 million, a price many thought was far too high. The team is now the most valuable franchise in sports, worth well over $10 billion on recent valuations.
Jones built that value by treating the Cowboys as a media and marketing company. He fought for the league’s sponsorship rules to loosen, built AT&T Stadium in Arlington and the team’s headquarters in Frisco, and now earns money from concerts, college games and real estate around both sites. Outside football, he holds a large stake in Comstock Resources, a natural gas producer.
Most of the $22 billion is the Cowboys. The Comstock shares and real estate in Frisco and Arlington make up the remainder. Recent estimates range from $16.3 billion to $23.1 billion, depending on the Cowboys valuation used.
3. Stan Kroenke: $26 billion
Stan Kroenke grew up in rural Missouri and built his first fortune developing shopping centers, many of them next to Walmart stores. His company, Kroenke Group, now owns millions of square feet of commercial property and is one of the largest landowners in the United States, with ranches stretching across several states.
His sports holdings are spread across four leagues. Kroenke Sports & Entertainment owns the Los Angeles Rams, the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Avalanche and Arsenal in the Premier League. He moved the Rams from St. Louis to Los Angeles in 2016 and privately financed SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, a project that cost more than $5 billion. It hosted the Super Bowl in 2022 and is booked for the 2028 Olympics. His wife, Ann Walton Kroenke, holds her own Walmart fortune, which we do not count here.
The Rams and SoFi Stadium dominate the calculation, followed by Arsenal, the Nuggets, the Avalanche, the ranches and the commercial real estate. Estimates published in 2026 run from $21.3 billion to $27.6 billion, with the newest figures at the top of that range.
2. David Tepper: $27 billion
Tepper is the only owner in the top five whose money came from trading. He started at Goldman Sachs, then founded Appaloosa Management in 1993. His big moment came in 2009, when he bought beaten-down bank stocks and debt during the financial crisis. That year Appaloosa made about $7 billion, and Tepper personally took home roughly $4 billion.
He paid about $2.3 billion for the Carolina Panthers in 2018, then a record price for an NFL team, and launched Charlotte FC in MLS in 2022. Appaloosa has since returned outside money and now runs mostly Tepper’s own fortune, so his wealth moves with his trades.
Our model takes his capital at Appaloosa, then adds the Panthers and Charlotte FC at current valuations. Estimates published in 2026 run from $23.6 billion to $28.5 billion, and the most recent sit at the high end.
1. Rob Walton: $145 billion
Rob Walton is the eldest son of Walmart founder Sam Walton. He worked as a lawyer before joining the company in 1978, then served as Walmart’s chairman from 1992 to 2015. He left the board in 2024, but he still holds a large block of Walmart stock, the family’s main source of wealth.
In 2022 he led the group that bought the Denver Broncos for $4.65 billion, then the highest price ever paid for a sports team. His son-in-law, Greg Penner, is the team’s CEO and day-to-day owner, and the group added Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as minority investors. Walmart shares have climbed sharply over the past two years, adding billions to his fortune.
We valued his Walmart shares at recent market prices and added his share of the Broncos. Other trackers put Walton between $138.6 billion and $148.2 billion.
Special mentions
- The Hunt family (Kansas City Chiefs): Clark Hunt runs the Chiefs, but the family fortune is spread across many heirs of oil pioneer H.L. Hunt and Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt, so we leave it out of the individual ranking.
- The Paul G. Allen estate (Seattle Seahawks): Jody Allen controls the team as executor of her late brother’s estate, whose assets are meant to be sold over time. The estate’s money is not hers to count.
- The Johnson family (New York Jets): Woody Johnson runs the Jets, but the large Johnson & Johnson fortune behind them is shared across the family.
What the richest NFL owners have in common
- Football is the second fortune. Only Jerry Jones has made the team itself the bulk of his wealth. The other nine built their money in retail, real estate, finance or manufacturing, then bought a team.
- They bought before the price exploded. Jones paid $140 million, Kraft $172 million. Teams that sold for under $1 billion two decades ago now go for $5 billion to $10 billion, and the NFL’s national TV contracts make that growth hard to lose.
- Stadiums are where the real money sits. Kroenke, Jones, Blank, Ross and Kraft all own or control their venues and the land around them, which brings in income 365 days a year.
- The age gap is wide. Several owners on this list are in their eighties, and succession plans now shape franchise values as much as wins do. Terry Pegula of the Buffalo Bills and Gayle Benson of the New Orleans Saints sit just outside the top ten, each within about $1 billion of Harris, so one strong year could change the order.
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Who is the richest NFL owner in 2026?
Rob Walton of the Denver Broncos, with an estimated net worth of about $145 billion as of November 2026. Nearly all of it comes from his Walmart shares.
Who is the richest NFL owner who made his own money?
David Tepper of the Carolina Panthers, at about $27 billion. He built his fortune running the hedge fund Appaloosa Management.
How much is Jerry Jones worth?
We estimate about $22 billion. Most of it is the value of the Dallas Cowboys, which he bought in 1989 for about $140 million.
How much does the 10th richest NFL owner have?
Josh Harris of the Washington Commanders ranks tenth with an estimated $11 billion, mostly from his stake in Apollo Global Management and his sports teams.
What is the most anyone has paid for an NFL team?
Josh Harris’s group paid $6.05 billion for the Washington Commanders in 2023, the record for an NFL franchise at the time of the sale.
Who owns the Green Bay Packers?
The Packers are publicly owned by hundreds of thousands of fans who hold non-dividend shares, so the team has no individual owner with a net worth to rank.
How we estimate net worth
Our estimates are based on public reporting, company valuations, and deal and earnings figures all compiled in an internal valuation model. They are approximate, and figures change over time as new information emerges.
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Last updated: November 2026.
