Avoiding LeBron James’ $8 Billion Precedent, Lewis Hamilton Chose to Roll the Dice with $4.65 Billion Group for Sports Ownership

Legendary F1 Racer Lewis Hamilton joined the Walton-Penner ownership group as a limited shareholder back in August 2022. The move was announced around a month after the family-based investment group bought NFL’s Denver Broncos for a whopping sum of $4.65 billion, making the purchase the most expensive of all time, when it comes to sports franchises.

On the other hand, NBA legend LeBron James is a part-owner of more than $8 billion worth of sports franchises. However, King James had adopted a different way than his F1 counterpart to see through his purchases.

The record for the most expensive sale was previously held by EPL club Chelsea’s owner Todd Boehly, who bought the club for around $3.1 billion. However, the Walton-Penner investment group soon swooped in with the Broncos purchase.

The group initially consisted of the likes of Walton Penner, his daughter, Carrie Walton Penner, and her husband, Greg Penner. They were then joined by former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Ariel Investments co-CEO Mellody Hobson. Hamilton became the latest member and the only athlete to join the investment group, which has since completely taken over the operations of the organization, according to The Guardian. Regardless, Hamilton is a limited shareholder in the Walton-Penner group. 

His ownership status of the Denver Broncos is entirely different from the kind LeBron James enjoys with respect to his ownership of the Boston Red Sox and the Liverpool Football Club. James, who is part of the Fenway Sports Group, only recently increased his stake in the group after making some big money via his initial investment.

According to Sportico, James made a whopping $127 million off of his investment. James and his friend Maverick Carter had just a 1% stake in Fenway through their initial investment in 2021. Regardless, it seems as if Fenway’s investments into sports franchises have proven to be beneficial for the franchises as well.

Sportico revealed that The Red Sox, which were worth $1.3 billion back in 2013, are today valued at an incredible $5.07 billion. That is in addition to a huge increase in value of Fenway’s other franchises, such as Liverpool. Hence, James can be expected to benefit from the increased equity in the coming time as well, with Fenway owning sports franchises that are now altogether worth more than $8 billion.

Lewis Hamilton had initially tried to buy Chelsea alongside Serena Williams

Lewis Hamilton appears to have been genuinely intent on getting a sports franchise ownership stake in recent months. Before his successful inclusion in the Denver Broncos’ ownership group, he had joined a consortium headed by Martin Broughton, alongside another sports legend, Serena Williams, to buy Chelsea.

The football club was sold in May 2022 and Hamilton had been willing to invest as much as $13 million. While he was evidently excited with the opportunity, Hamilton claimed to be an Arsenal fan instead.

Regardless, the 38-year-old seemed intent on being heavily involved with the sporting structure as well, according to ESPN. While he ultimately failed, LeBron James has been part-owner of Liverpool, which also plays in the EPL since 2011. James’ $6,500,000 investment was reported to be worth a whopping $40 million in November 2022, according to Mirror. That further demonstrates that the Fenway Sports Group has not only invested in some major sports franchises around the world, they have also done it for the right reasons.