Big-time college sports have never exactly been cheap, but over the past five years, as a series of court rulings and policy changes have redirected the spigot of money toward student-athletes through name, image and likeness (NIL) marketing deals and a revenue-sharing system with universities, athletic departments have grown increasingly desperate for cash.

Many programs have begun creating or renovating premium seating options to drive up ticket prices, or signing sponsor agreements that put corporate logos directly on the field. Other schools aiming to keep up in the arms race are exploring deals with institutional investors. In December, the University of Utah partnered with Otro Capital, and the Big 12 Conference is negotiating with two other private equity firms.

But for all of the financial innovation sweeping across college sports, when it comes to beefing up budgets, there is still nothing like a deep-pocketed patron.

In a Sports Business Journal analysis of 110 schools, donations rose 40% from 2019 to 2023, and nearly three-quarters of the schools set fundraising records after the new NIL rules went into effect. And there is no shortage of affluent alumni for universities to tap. Among the 64 teams tipping off in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament on Thursday and Friday, several are backed by billionaire boosters.

For example, David Booth, who built a net worth estimated at $2.4 billion as cofounder of investment firm Dimensional Fund Advisors, pledged roughly $300 million to the University of Kansas’ athletic department last year, following a separate $50 million gift announced in 2017. Sports drink mogul Mike Repole, meanwhile, has put his $2.5 billion net worth to work on behalf of St. John’s, most recently promising to contribute up to $1 million to the Red Storm’s NIL fund. And Ryan Smith, cofounder of cloud computing company Qualtrics and owner of the NBA’s Utah Jazz and the NHL’s Utah Mammoth, worth an estimated $3.3 billion, helped recruit BYU star forward A.J. Dybantsa.

Even those phenomenal fortunes, however, are dwarfed by this Sweet 16, a group of superfans—some of whom aren’t even alumni—with a combined net worth that Forbes estimates at $365 billion.

Here are some of the wealthiest boosters who have donated to the athletic departments of this year’s March Madness teams.

Larry Ellison, Michigan

Net Worth: $195.6 billion

Ellison, the cofounder of Oracle, whose net worth briefly crossed $400 billion in September before a slump in the software giant’s share price, dropped out of the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois, but he wrote a big check for the University of Michigan—the Illini’s Big Ten rival—in 2024. The 81-year-old tech billionaire reportedly helped fund the eight-figure NIL package that flipped football recruit Bryce Underwood from LSU to Michigan, the alma mater of his wife, Jolin.

Ellison is joined in his support of the Wolverines—a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament’s Midwest Region this year—by 85-year-old real estate developer and Miami Dolphins owner Stephen M. Ross (estimated net worth: $17 billion), whose lifetime giving to Michigan reportedly stands at $480 million, including $100 million for the athletic department announced in 2013.

Dan Gilbert, Michigan State

Net Worth: $23.4 billion

The No. 3-seeded Spartans have plenty of billionaire boosters. Gilbert, the 64-year-old owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, gave $15 million through his family foundation in 2016 toward the renovation of Michigan State’s basketball arena, and his company, mortgage lender Rocket Companies, is a Spartans sponsor.

Meanwhile, United Wholesale Mortgage CEO and Phoenix Suns........

© Forbes