If someone's just looking for profit, there are much much better ways than a sports franchise. They do make money, but for these mega-rich guys, owning a team is more a bucket list type thing. Bucket list type things are sailing to Tahiti, owning a sports franchise may be an ego thing, but it's extremely profitable. The Cubs were sold to the Tribune Co. in 1981 for $20.5 million and then sold to Ricketts for $900 million in 2009. If you know a better way to make that much profit, let me know. Some of the worst owners in sports end up selling for a lot more than they paid for a franchise. I'm not arguing that the value of the Cubs isn't much greater now than 1980, but to give it some context, the stock market was at 759 in 1980.