The Forbes Family Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Chairman Larry Tanenbaum and his cohorts will be keeping very exclusive company when Toronto joins Major League Soccer in 2007. The list of owners / investors in MLS is a virtual who’s who of billionaire philanthropists who have made it to Forbes list of leading money makers at one time or another.
Pat Onstad
Pat Onstad, 2005 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year
Dwayne DeRosario, (left) runner up for the 2005 Honda MLS Player of the Year.
(1) Philip Anschutz and AEG (Anschutz Entertainment 1 Group), Owners of Los Angeles Galaxy, Chicago Fire, Houston Dynamo and D.C. United. Estimated net worth: $5.8 billion. Anschutz has a long track record as a risk-taker in businesses ranging from railroads, oil and real estate to telecommunications, movie theaters and filmmaking. Whatever the venture, he is known for his vision. AEG was instrumental in helping build two soccer specific stadiums in Los Angeles and Chicago. (2) Lamar Hunt and Hunt Sports Group. Owner of 2 Columbus Crew, Kansas City Wizards and FC Dallas. Hunt, whose family made their mark in the oil and silver industry own the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. He purchased the Chiefs in 1960 for $25,000 and the footabll teams present day value is $762 million. Hunt Sports was instrumental in helping build soccer specific stadiums in Columbus and Dallas. (3) Robert Kraft. Owner of the New England Revolution. 3 Estimated net worth: $1.1 billion. Kraft, who also owns the NFL’s New England Patriots and his own privately built stadium, runs one of the largest privately owned paper and packaging enterprises in the United States. (4) Stanley Kroenke. Owner of the Colorado Rapids. 4 Estimated net worth: $1.4 billion. Kroenke’s sports empire includes the Colorado Avelanche of the NHL, and the NBA’s Denver Nuggets. He has built a reputation as one of America’s leading developers of shopping centers and apartment buildings. (5) Jorge Vergara. Owner of Club Deportiva Chivas USA. 5 Estimated net worth: $1.4 billion. Vergara, who owns CD Chivas, one of Mexico’s most fabled soccer clubs, has made his fortune through OmniLife – a leading producer of vitamins in Mexico. (6) Dave Checketts. Owner of Real Salt Lake. Checketts is 6 the former President and CEO of Madison Square Garden in New York and former President of the New York Knicks and Utah Jazz. His company just purchased the NHL’s St. Louis Blues for $150 million and made a $600 million bid for the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. (7) Dietrich Mateschitz and Red Bull. Owner of New York 7 Red Bulls. Estmitated net worth $2.4 billion. Austrian Mateschitz, who is MLS’s newest investor, turned his energy drink company into a world wide phenomina. Red Bull , along with AEG, have pledged to build a soccer specific stadium in New Jersey 29 - InsideSOCCER, 2006 Parent’s Guide to Soccer