Meet The Billionaire Boosters Behind March Madness 2026
Many of the teams in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament are bankrolled by super-rich superfans. Here is this year’s C-Suite 16, with a combined net worth of $365 billion.
Big-time college sports have never exactly been cheap, but over the past five years, as a series of court rulings and policy changes have redirected the spigot of money toward student-athletes through name, image and likeness (NIL) marketing deals and a revenue-sharing system with universities, athletic departments have grown increasingly desperate for cash. Many programs have begun creating or renovating premium seating options to drive up ticket prices, or signing sponsor agreements that put corporate logos directly on the field . Other schools aiming to keep up in the arms race are exploring deals with institutional investors.
In December, the University of Utah partnered with Otro Capital , and the Big 12 Conference is negotiating with two other private equity firms. But for all of the financial innovation sweeping across college sports, when it comes to beefing up budgets, there is still nothing like a deep-pocketed patron. In a Sports Business Journal analysis of 110 schools, donations rose 40% from 2019 to 2023, and nearly three-quarters of the schools set fundraising records after the new NIL rules went into effect.
And there is no shortage of affluent alumni for universities to tap. Among the 64 teams tipping off in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament on Thursday and Friday, several are backed by billionaire boosters. For example, David Booth, who built a net worth estimated at $2.
4 billion as cofounder of investment firm Dimensional Fund Advisors, pledged roughly $300 million to the University of Kansas’ athletic department last year, following a separate $50 million gift announced in 2017. Sports drink mogul Mike Repole, meanwhile, has put his $2. 5 billion net worth to work on behalf of St.
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