Meet the wealthiest women changing the game—11 billionaires who control major pro franchises and are collectively worth $85 billion, led by the Mavericks’ Miriam Adelson. Chaos in the public markets over the past year has taken a bite out of Miriam Adelson’s fortune, dropping her net worth 3%. But the 79-year-old widow of former Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson can always count on her sports team. The Dallas Mavericks—the NBA franchise Miriam Adelson bought for $3.5 billion in 2023—are now worth $4.7 billion, according to Forbes estimates. And even in a down year for her Sands stock, Adelson is in no danger of relinquishing her crown as the richest female team owner in sports, with her estimated net worth of $29.4 billion heading up a list of 11 women collectively worth $85 billion. In fact, Adelson is worth more than the next three women in the ranking combined: Brooklyn Nets and New York Liberty co-owner Clara Wu Tsai, who shares an $11.4 billion fortune with her husband, Alibaba cofounder Joe Tsai; Cleveland Browns and Columbus Crew co-owner Dee Haslam, worth $8.5 billion with her husband, former Pilot Flying J CEO Jimmy Haslam; and New Orleans Saints and Pelicans owner Gayle Benson, worth $7.1 billion. Among the more than 3,000 billionaires on Forbes’ real-time billionaire ranking, roughly 400 are women. But only 11 are the control owner of a franchise in a major professional sports league. (Minority owners were excluded from this ranking, as were billionaires who are part of a team’s ownership group but don’t actually lead the club, such as New York Yankees co-owners Jennifer Steinbrenner Swindal and Jessica Steinbrenner.) That small pool is growing, however, as increased interest in women’s sports fuels a boom in popularity, sponsor interest and, ultimately, team values, enticing a new class of owner. Health care technology billionaire Michele Kang, No. 11 in the richest female owner ranking at $1.2 billion, says she knew nothing about soccer in 2020 when she first joined the cap table of the National Women’s Soccer League’s Washington Spirit, and now she owns three prominent women’s clubs. Private equity mogul Lauren Leichtman (No. 10, $1.3 billion) followed Kang into NWSL ownership with her purchase of the San Diego Wave last year, and former Utah Jazz owner Gail Miller (No. 8, $4.6 billion) is back in the sports world after completing a $600 million deal in April for the NWSL’s Utah Royals and MLS’s Real Salt Lake. Of the 11 billionaire women in control of a sports team, seven can attribute their fortunes to inheritance or their spouses while four are self-made. Outside of Adelson and Tennessee Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk, who held steady, all saw their net worths increase year-over-year, with Leichtman and Kang first joining Forbes’ billionaire list this year. The NFL is the most represented league among the female owners, with four teams. The NBA and the NWSL are close behind with three representatives each, followed by MLS and European women’s soccer with two. England’s Premier League, MLB, the NHL and the WNBA each have one. Here are the 11 richest female sports team owners, with their net worths estimated as of May 2. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images #1. Miriam Adelson Net Worth: $29.4 billion* One-Year Change: -3% Team: Dallas Mavericks Source of Wealth: Casinos The 79-year-old Adelson’s tenure in charge of the Mavericks has gotten off to a bumpy start after the team, which is led on a day-to-day basis by her son-in-law, Patrick Dumont, traded superstar guard Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in February. Redemption is in the air, however. Despite odds of just 1.8%, the Mavericks won this year’s NBA draft lottery and are now in a position to draft Duke University phenom Cooper Flagg. Manny Carabel/Stringer/Getty images #2. Clara Wu Tsai Net Worth: $11.4 billion* One-Year Change: +33% Teams: Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty Source of Wealth: E-commerce The 59-year-old Wu Tsai and her husband, Joe, took control of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and the Barclays Center in 2019—the same year they bought the struggling New York Liberty from the Madison Square Garden Company. With Wu Tsai serving on the WNBA’s board of governors, the Liberty have become one of the league’s crown jewels, claiming their first championship in 2024 and recently selling off a minority stake at a reported $450 million valuation. Nick Cammett/Diamond Images/Getty Images #3. Dee Haslam Net Worth: $8.5 billion* One-Year Change: +5% Teams: Cleveland Browns, Columbus Crew Source of Wealth: Gas stations, retail The 70-year-old Haslam owes her fortune to truck stop chain Pilot Flying J, which her husband’s father founded in 1958 and which was sold to Berkshire Hathaway for $13.6 billion across three deals in 2017, 2023 and 2024. In addition to control stakes in the NFL’s Cleveland Browns and MLS’s Columbus Crew that the Haslams bought in 2012 and 2019, respectively, they picked up a 25% piece of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks from Marc Lasry two years ago. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images #4. Gayle Benson Net Worth: $7.1 billion One-Year Change: +16% Teams: New Orleans Saints, New Orleans Pelicans Source of Wealth: Sports After New Orleans Saints and Pelicans owner Tom Benson died in 2018, his widow, Gayle Benson, inherited the teams, ultimately fending off a multiyear legal challenge from his daughter and grandchildren. With no heirs of her own, the 78-year-old Benson doesn’t plan on keeping her stakes in the family. In 2021, she announced that both franchises would be sold after her death, with the proceeds donated to charities in the New Orleans area. Dave Reginek/Pool/Getty Images #5. Marian Ilitch Net Worth: $6.9 billion* One-Year Change: +50% Teams: Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Tigers Source of Wealth: Restaurants The 92-year-old Ilitch and her husband, Mike, who died in 2017, started Little Caesars Pizza in 1958 and bought the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings in 1982 for $8 million. In the years since, only the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Edmonton Oilers have won more Stanley Cups than the Red Wings’ four. Mike and Marian Ilitch added MLB’s Detroit Tigers to their empire in 1992, and their son, Chris, leads the day-to-day operations of both franchises today. Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images #6. Denise York Net Worth: $6.7 billion* One-Year Change: +16% Teams: San Francisco 49ers, Leeds United Source of Wealth: Sports The San Francisco 49ers have been in the 74-year-old York’s family for nearly 50 years. Her father, Edward Debartolo Sr., who died in 1994, bought the NFL franchise for $13 million in 1977. York took control from her brother in 2000, and she later tabbed her son, Jed York, as CEO. The family has also expanded its interests to English soccer, using the 49ers’ investment arm to gradually take control of Leeds United, which earned its way back to the Premier League last month. Leslie Plaza Johnson/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images #7. Janice McNair Net Worth: $6.2 billion* One-Year Change: +10% Team: Houston Texans Source of Wealth: Energy, sports McNair’s husband, Bob, sold power generator company Cogen Technologies to Enron for $1.5 billion in 1999 and rolled those proceeds into a $700 million expansion fee that brought the NFL’s 32nd franchise to Houston for the 2002 season. When he died in 2018, Janice, now 88, inherited the Texans, and she passed operational control to her son, Cal, six years later. Rick Bowmer/Associated Press #8. Gail Miller Net Worth: $4.6 billion* One-Year Change: +4% Teams: Real Salt Lake, Utah Royals Source of Wealth: Car dealerships With her husband, Larry, who died in 2009, Miller turned a single Toyota dealership into the eighth-biggest auto dealer group in the U.S., selling the business to Asbury Automotive for $3.2 billion in 2021. The Millers were also the longtime owners of the Utah Jazz, buying the NBA club in 1986 for $22 million and selling it to Qualtrics billionaire Ryan Smith for $1.66 billion in 2020. This year, Gail Miller, 81, completed a deal to take control of the NWSL’s Utah Royals and MLS’s Real Salt Lake, and she and her family are leading a group of investors aiming to bring an MLB team to Salt Lake City. Wesley Hit/Getty Images #9. Amy Adams Strunk Net Worth: $2 billion One-Year Change: 0% Team: Tennessee Titans Source of Wealth: Sports Adams Strunk’s father, the legendary Bud Adams, founded the Houston Oilers in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League, a decade before its official merger with the NFL. Adams relocated the franchise to Nashville and rebranded it as the Tennessee Titans in 1997, but his death in 2013 touched off a family legal battle. The 69-year-old Adams Strunk took control two years later and is now building the team a $2.1 billion stadium that is expected to open in 2027, with more than $1.2 billion in public funding. Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images #10. Lauren Leichtman Net Worth: $1.3 billion One-Year Change: N/A Team: San Diego Wave Source of Wealth: Private equity Leichtman married Arthur Levine in 1984, and five years later, they cofounded Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, a private equity firm that now has $11 billion in assets. She entered the sports business in 2024, buying the NWSL’s San Diego Wave from supermarket billionaire Ron Burkle at a weighted valuation of $113 million. Forbes estimates the Wave are now worth $165 million, and the 75-year-old Leichtman recently brought on former U.S. women’s national team and Wave superstar Alex Morgan as a minority investor in the franchise. Levon Biss for Forbes #11. Michele Kang Net Worth: $1.2 billion One-Year Change: N/A Teams: Washington Spirit, OL Lyonnes, London City Lionesses Source of Wealth: Health care technology Kang kicked off the NWSL’s valuation boom when she bought a majority stake in the Washington Spirit in 2022 for $35 million, then considered an astronomical price for a women’s team. Now, the 65-year-old founder and former CEO of health care IT company Cognosante owns two other clubs as well: OL Lyonnes of France’s Première Ligue and the London City Lionesses, recently promoted to England’s Women’s Super League. Her empire may expand again soon, with Kang eyeing a South American club. METHODOLOGY For the ranking of the richest female sports owners, Forbes considered control owners of franchises from seven North American sports leagues (MLB, MLS, the NBA, the NFL, the NHL, the NWSL and the WNBA), the “big five” European men’s soccer leagues (England’s Premier League, France’s Ligue 1, Germany’s Bundesliga, Italy’s Serie A and Spain’s La Liga) and the top women’s soccer leagues in the same five European nations (England’s Women’s Super League, France’s Première Ligue, Germany’s Frauen-Bundesliga, Italy’s Serie A Femminile and Spain’s Liga F). Minority owners of teams were not included unless they qualified under a control stake with a different franchise. Net worths are calculated as of May 2, 2025. In the cases of seven members of the list—Miriam Adelson, Clara Wu Tsai, Dee Haslam, Marian Ilitch, Denise York, Janice McNair and Gail Miller, as denoted by an asterisk—the net worth calculation includes family members’ assets. No one-year change is listed for Lauren Leichtman and Michele Kang, who first joined Forbes’ billionaire list this year. More From Forbes ForbesThe World’s Richest Sports Team Owners 2025By Justin BirnbaumForbesThe World’s Most Profitable Sports Teams 2025By Brett KnightForbesThe World’s 10 Highest-Paid Athletes 2025By Brett KnightForbesMonarch Collective Expands Fund To $250 Million To Keep Fueling Women’s Sports BoomBy Justin Birnbaum Got a tip? Share confidential information with Forbes. Editorial StandardsReprints & Permissions