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Anchor Drop, February 3, 2023: Why rich people own pro sports teams

Good morning.

Optional Musical Accompaniment

As a new feature, sometimes I’m just going to go off on a rant about something in the Anchor Drop. Today’s topic is an offshoot of last week’s pickleball discussion. There’s weirdly a considerable amount of interest in owning professional pickleball teams, but Jersey Dore wanted to know:

Why has owning a professional sports team become such an aspiration for the truly rich and powerful?

Thirty years ago, world-famous plutocrats stayed far away from professional sports. The only exception to this I can think of is Paul Allen owning the Portland trailblazers.