Inside the C-Suite 16—a group of ultra-rich fans using their combined net worth of $357 billion to bankroll the schools in the 2025 NCAA men’s basketball tournament. By Brett Knight, Forbes Staff With college sports in their NIL era, it helps to have a big-money backer—the way that Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank (estimated net worth: $1 billion) has bolstered the University of Maryland’s athletics department or that David Booth, who cofounded Dimensional Fund Advisors and is worth $2.5 billion, has donated to his alma mater, Kansas. Auburn, the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament bracket, can tap into the estimated $1.5 billion net worth of Jimmy Rane, founder of Great Southern Wood Preserving, which makes decks, fences and other treated lumber products. But it’s not just powerhouse programs with access to deep pockets. Bodyarmor cofounder Mike Repole ($1.6 billion) has helped lead a basketball turnaround at St. John’s University, culminating in the program’s first Big East Tournament title in 25 years under the Red Storm’s second-year coach, Hall of Famer Rick Pitino. Meanwhile, Ryan Smith, cofounder of enterprise software company Qualtrics and the owner of the NBA’s Utah Jazz and the NHL’s Utah Hockey Club, has a net worth estimated at $2.6 billion and supports BYU. He even pitched in with the recruiting of A.J. Dybantsa for next year’s team, meeting with the top-ranked basketball prospect’s father and financial advisor (although he later clarified that he didn’t direct any money to Dybantsa’s NIL package). Still, even those billions look like chump change next to these super-rich super-fans—a Sweet 16 with a combined net worth that Forbes estimates at $357 billion as the NCAA men’s basketball tournament tips off this week. Here are some of the wealthiest boosters who have donated to the athletics departments of this year’s March Madness teams, with their net worths estimated as of March 19. Harry How/Getty Images Larry Ellison, Michigan Net Worth: $186.5 billion The 80-year-old cofounder of tech giant Oracle—and the world’s fourth-richest man—helped pay for the NIL package that flipped quarterback recruit Bryce Underwood from LSU to Michigan in November. Ellison had no established connection to the university—until it emerged that his previously unknown wife, Jolin, was an alum. The Wolverines also have a well-heeled patron in real estate developer and Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, who is worth an estimated $18.4 billion and pledged $100 million to the athletics department in 2013, along with another $100 million for the business school. In all, the 84-year-old Ross has donated some $480 million to his alma mater. Timothy J. Gonzalez/Associated Press Phil Knight, Oregon Net Worth: $33.5 billion A middle-distance runner on Oregon’s track team in the 1950s, the 87-year-old Nike cofounder has made two separate $500 million donations to the school’s academic programs and is a longtime sports mega-booster. In 2007, he donated $100 million to the athletics department—then the largest philanthropic gift in the school’s history—and in 2021, he helped organize a for-profit NIL collective for Ducks athletes called Division Street. Explaining Knight’s impact on his recruitment for the 2025 season, high school cornerback Na’eem Offord told CBS Sports: “He played a big role—like a huge, big role. … He’s going to help me make my shoe.” Knight’s generosity doesn’t stop at Oregon, either. He has also donated to the athletics department at Stanford, where he earned his master’s degree in business administration. Phil Long/Associated Press Daniel Gilbert, Michigan State Net Worth: $26.6 billion Michigan State was able to upgrade its basketball arena in part thanks to a 2016 gift from Gilbert, the 63-year-old cofounder of mortgage juggernaut Rocket Companies and owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. He also has plenty of billionaire company among the Spartans’ donors—including two lending rivals, Mat and Justin Ishbia, whose father, Jeff, founded United Wholesale Mortgage. Mat Ishbia, 45, who also owns the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and is worth an estimated $9.3 billion, walked on as a point guard at Michigan State and in 2021 committed $32 million toward expanding its sports facilities. His older brother, Justin, 47, who founded private equity firm Shore Capital Partners and has a $4.9 billion fortune, gave the department $10 million last year, much of it targeted at refurbishing the baseball stadium. Meanwhile, Magic Johnson—who led the Spartans to a basketball national championship in 1979 and is one of only a handful of athletes who have become billionaires, with his net worth now $1.5 billion—pledged $3 million toward a football stadium renovation in 2014. Matt Patterson/Associated Press Jerry Jones, Arkansas Net Worth: $17 billion In 2015, Arkansas athletics received $10.65 million from the oil mogul and longtime owner of the Dallas Cowboys, now 82, who was a co-captain of the Razorbacks’ national champion football team in 1964. Jones is joined on the university’s billionaire roster by John Tyson, 71, who serves as chairman of meat processor Tyson Foods. Worth an estimated $2.9 billion, Tyson donated $6 million toward revamping the school’s indoor track facility in 2018. Nancy Walton Laurie, Missouri Net Worth: $13.9 billion Walton Laurie is the 73-year-old daughter of Walmart cofounder Bud Walton and part of a broader family collectively worth $267 billion. With her husband, former St. Louis Blues owner Bill Laurie, she donated $25 million in 2001 toward building a new basketball arena at Mizzou; the venue was named Paige Sports Arena, after their daughter, until 2004, when the younger Laurie was accused of cheating in college. Walton Laurie’s mother, Audrey J. Walton, is also a Missouri booster whose name has graced the university’s track and soccer stadium since it opened in 1996. In January, she announced a gift to transform the facility. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg Joseph Tsai, Yale Net Worth: $12.2 billion After playing lacrosse at Yale in the 1980s, the now-61-year-old Tsai, the Brooklyn Nets’ owner and an Alibaba Group cofounder, built a field house for the team that opened in 2021. Charles B. Johnson, 92, who attended Yale three decades earlier and built a $4.8 billion fortune in a long career running investment management firm Franklin Resources, has also contributed to the Bulldogs’ sports facilities, helping renovate the football stadium, in addition to a $250 million gift to build two new residential colleges. Dan Cathy, Clemson Net Worth: $10.8 billion The 72-year-old Cathy—whose father, Truett, founded Chick-fil-A in 1967—became CEO in 2013 before stepping aside for his son Andrew in 2021. His other son, Ross, is the Clemson alum, but Dan, who attended Georgia Southern, and his wife, Rhonda, are nonetheless listed alongside him among the Tigers athletics department’s “Cornerstone Partners,” who have donated $2.5 million or more. Ross Cathy, who operates a Chick-fil-A in Midland, Georgia, also helped spruce up one of the football stadium’s end zones in a project completed in 2006. Tilman Fertitta, Houston Net Worth: $10.8 billion The 67-year-old Fertitta owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets as well as Landry’s, the holding company behind the Golden Nugget casinos and a number of restaurant chains, including Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Del Frisco’s and the Palm. In 2016, he made the largest donation yet to Houston’s athletics department—$20 million—and the Cougars’ basketball arena now carries his name. Fertitta, who serves as chairman of the University of Houston System Board of Regents, indicated he had a new priority last year, however. At a news conference in August, he pointed out that the money being spent on a new football operations center could have instead gone directly to student-athletes and said, “If we don’t raise money for NIL, we’re not going to be successful.” Scott Taetsch/Getty Images Jimmy Haslam, Tennessee Net Worth: $8.5 billion Before following his father into business with the Pilot Company’s convenience stores, Haslam traced his path to Tennessee, where the elder James Arthur Haslam started on the offensive line for college football’s 1951 national champions. (Tennessee’s business school is also named after him, and the Natalie L. Haslam College of Music is named for his wife.) With the 71-year-old Jimmy, who owns the NFL’s Cleveland Browns and MLS’s Columbus Crew, and his brother—former Tennessee governor Bill Haslam, himself worth an estimated $5.1 billion—continuing the family tradition, the Haslams have together donated more than $100 million to Tennessee academics and athletics. Jeffery Hildebrand, Texas A&M Net Worth: $8 billion The 66-year-old cofounder of Hilcorp, one of the country’s largest privately owned oil companies, Hildebrand has drawn attention for the lavish bonuses he has given the company’s employees, including $100,000 for each of about 1,400 workers in 2015 after Hilcorp doubled its production. (Hildebrand gave up his CEO title in 2018, but the company has kept up the tradition, awarding $75,000 bonuses in 2021.) The generosity extends to Hildebrand’s alma mater, Texas A&M. In 2014, he and the university unveiled a $32 million equine complex named after his father, with the facility containing an arena and barn for the Aggies’ equestrian team as well as spaces for teaching and research. David Becker/Getty Images for Diamond Empowerment Fund Dennis Washington, Montana Net Worth: $7.4 billion In 1985, Montana received $1 million toward the construction of its $3.2 million football stadium from Washington, whose conglomerate owns businesses in industries including copper mining and marine transportation. Four decades later, the 90-year-old patriarch’s sons, Kyle and Kevin, have continued to direct money to the university from the foundation Washington created with his wife, Phyllis, and their family name adorns not only the stadium but also the university’s training center, education school and amphitheater. Fred Smith, Memphis Net Worth: $5.6 billion The 80-year-old Smith, who stepped down as CEO of Memphis-based FedEx in 2022 after 50 years, pledged $50 million in 2023 to give the university’s football stadium a facelift—the largest gift in school history. The Tigers’ athletics department immediately launched a fundraising campaign to match Smith’s commitment. Anthony Pritzker, UCLA Net Worth: $4.1 billion One of 13 billionaire heirs to the Pritzker family fortune, which includes Hyatt Hotels, the 64-year-old Anthony runs the Pritzker Group, an investment firm, and is CEO and chairman of Pritzker Private Capital, which spun out from the Pritzker Group in 2017 and invests in middle-market companies. He also served as co-chairman of UCLA’s centennial fundraising campaign in 2020, and the foundation he started with his now-ex-wife, Jeanne, has contributed to the Bruins’ athletics department as well as a number of academic initiatives, including $30 million for a psychology building and $15 million toward UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. Pat Stryker, Colorado State Net Worth: $4 billion The 68-year-old granddaughter of the founder of Stryker Corporation, which sells medical equipment, Stryker started the Bohemian Foundation. The philanthropic group donated $20 million to Colorado State in 2003—some of which was used to improve the university’s football stadium—and added a $5 million gift in 2022 to upgrade the facilities for most of the women’s sports programs on campus. Drayton McLane Jr., Baylor Net Worth: $3.9 billion Baylor’s football stadium, which opened in 2014, is named after the 88-year-old McLane, who initiated the construction fundraising campaign. In his day job, McLane expanded his family’s grocery distribution company, eventually selling it to his friend Sam Walton in 1991 in exchange for $50 million in cash and 10.4 million shares of Walmart stock. He also owned MLB’s Houston Astros from 1992 to 2011. McLane has company in the three-comma club of Baylor boosters with Paul Foster, 67, who sold his oil business Western Refining in 2017 and is worth an estimated $3.3 billion. Along with his wife, Alejandra de la Vega-Foster, a co-owner of three sports teams in Texas and Mexico, Foster made a $100 million donation to the school in 2019, with some of the cash going toward the construction of a new basketball arena that bears their name. Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images David Rubenstein, Duke Net Worth: $3.8 billion Rubenstein is one of the three billionaire founders of private equity behemoth Carlyle Group, which manages more than $400 billion in assets, and serves as co-chairman of the firm’s board. The 75-year-old former lawyer is also the principal owner of MLB’s Baltimore Orioles, having led the group that bought the team last year at a $1.725 billion valuation. Financial aid allowed Rubenstein to become the first member of his family to attend college, at Duke, and he has paid back that investment with a string of substantial gifts to the university, including $25 million for a new arts building and $20 million to endow a scholarship program, as well as $10 million toward the Blue Devils’ athletics department in 2012. MORE FROM FORBES ForbesAmerica’s Richest Sports Team Owners 2024By Justin BirnbaumForbesMagic Johnson Is Now A BillionaireBy Matt CraigForbesBillionaire Chiefs Owner Clark Hunt On Building A Dynasty — On And Off The FieldBy Justin BirnbaumForbesMeet The Billionaire Bond Investor Behind Chelsea F.C., Springsteen’s Songbook And The LA DodgersBy Maneet Ahuja Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Send me a secure tip. Editorial StandardsForbes Accolades