So you want to buy a sports franchise? Why entering sports ownership gives the rich a ‘very elite and exclusive club’ with great tax benefits

The rich have always wanted to own a team, and it seems like lately, they’ve been lining up to do it. Steve Ballmer walked away from Microsoft’s C-suite and into the Clippers, pouring more than $4 billion into the team and its new arena. Mark Walter closed a record $10 billion purchase of the Lakers last year. Rob Walton, the Walmart heir, sits courtside at Broncos games and holds a piece of the Diamondbacks. Arthur Blank went from cofounding Home Depot to owning the Falcons and Atlanta United. Bernard Arnault, the head of LVMH, picked up Paris FC and became the world’s richest sports owner in the process.

So why are the rich getting into the sports biz?

Think of Bill Chisholm, a private equity founder few outside finance had heard of, who became a very public figure the moment he closed his $6.1 billion purchase of the Celtics last year. Owning a franchise buys entry into what one top sports dealmaker calls a premium club filled with elite deals, and the tax code makes membership even more attractive.

“It is being part of a very elite and exclusive club of owners that control those franchises,” David Silverman, a partner in Cooley’s mergers and acquisitions group, told Fortune. “There are uni...