Good news! Even if you're delivering pizzas now, you may still be able to become a billionaire sports team owner!
This weekend, as I was sifting through all of the bologna news stories CNN.com had picked up, I found a piece, it was featuring from Mental Floss, a cutting-edge magazine. The headline - How to be a billionaire sports team owner - led me to believe this article would be quite a hoot, but what I actually found was an article detailing several examples of the American Dream actually happening.
The article says that Daniel Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, saved up $5,000 he'd earned while delivering pizzas. He then worked as a TV reporter for a little while and later developed a small mortgage company, which sold for $532 million in 1999. He bought the company back in 2002 for $64 million and that small mortgage company is the reason why the former Gund Arena is now called the Quicken Loans Arena. He then purchased the Cavs in 2005 for $375 million and also owns a company called Fathead, which makes wall decals.
The article featured several other fascinating stories, such as the owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Manchester United soccer team, Malcolm Glazer, who invested in Florida trailer parks. The owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, Robert L. Johnson, developed and sold BET to Viacom for $3 billion and the Seattle Mariners' owner, Hiroshi Yamauchi, evolved Nintendo from a playing card company to a video game company.
I find it fascinating that these men started so small and own such large parts of American culture. It makes me wonder if all of this pain and strife choosing my major and my path through college was worth it or not when I could just be like Daniel Gilbert and save my pizza delivery money.
After interviewing with a finance company, I sat back and considered all of the options I have for employment. I spoke with my interviewer regarding the options I have with his company and he reassured me that I would have no problem in his company, even his industry, based on my qualifications and my personality. So after I read the article, I decided it was time to throw away all of the ideas I'd previously had for my ideal job and decided to just let it happen.
Perhaps I'll fall into a really amazing investment and get a great idea - like investing in Florida trailer parks - further down the road. And upon paying off my own personal debt, the investment will be so lucrative that I'll have so much left over, I'll decide to purchase a sports team or a retail chain or a hospital or a charity or maybe even a country or continent.
The possibilities are endless and, with an ounce of creativity and a whole boatload of luck, maybe one day, I, too, will own my favorite sports team.
Kadi McDonald is a senior magazine journalism major. Tell her what's up by emailing her at km134305@ohiou.edu.
4 Opinion
Kadi McDonald
