Matt Levine’s Money Stuff: Sports Team Owners Like to Win

Sept. 3, 2025, 6:32 PM UTC

Aspiration

Professional sports present an unusual financial puzzle, in that they reward finding clever ways to lose money. Most owners of companies would prefer to make a profit, and probably most owners of sports teams would also prefer to make a profit, but there are other prizes in sports, and some owners of sports teams do not care that much about profit. Some owners would prefer to lose money and win a championship, because winning a championship is cool and fun and why you probably got into sports ownership in the first place. But only one team can win the championship in each ...

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