Red Sox: Forbes ranks John Henry among richest owners in sports

Boston Red Sox owner John Henry made Forbes’ list of the 45 richest owners in professional sports with an estimated worth of over $2 billion.

The Boston Red Sox have invested a significant amount of financial resources into their roster but they have an owner who can afford it.

Forbes recently released a list of the richest owners in sports, which finds Red Sox owner John Henry ranked No. 36 with an estimated worth of $2.5 billion. Henry also owns the Liverpool Football Club and Roush Fenway Racing, but the Red Sox remain the crown jewel of his sports franchise assets.

More than 10 percent of the Forbes 400 list now includes owners of a major sports team. Each member of this list is worth a minimum net worth of $2 billion.

The list includes the owners of seven other MLB teams in addition to Henry’s Red Sox. Five of those owners are estimated to be worth more than Henry. San Francisco Giants owner Charles Johnson leads the pack as the wealthiest MLB owner, ranking 9th on the list at $6 billion.

Having a wealthy owner doesn’t necessarily correlate with how much the team spends on its roster. Oakland A’s owner John Fisher ranks ahead at Henry at No. 33 with an estimated net worth of $2.7 billion. The A’s typically have among the lowest payrolls in baseball. They are a small market team that struggles to generate as much revenue as teams in larger markets. Fisher may have more money than Henry but that doesn’t necessarily make it worthwhile to invest more in the A’s payroll.

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The initial reaction from fans irritated by a slow-moving free agent market may be why a multi-billion dollar owner is haggling over shelling out a few extra million to land the team’s top target. That’s an opinion that lacks perspective. Henry has plenty of money but he’s still a businessman. He’s not signing off on a bad deal simply because he can afford to pour gasoline on a pile of cash and light it on fire.

Free agents are paid what the market dictates. If other teams aren’t offering J.D. Martinez more than the deal Boston already has on the table then there’s no incentive to raise their bid.

Let’s avoid the narrative that Henry is being cheap by not opening up his wallet to sign every desirable free agent. The Red Sox annually rank among the highest payrolls in baseball. They may very well be the only team to exceed the luxury tax in 2018. Boston already has a number of large salaries committed to this season and there are limits to how much they are willing to add to the payroll. That’s not being cheap, it’s just good business.

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While the Red Sox have helped make Henry a very wealthy man, it’s fair to say that the owner has done his part to ensure the franchise stays in contention.