The beauty of sports is that anyone can play, rich or poor. Have a net?ball? A few friends? You can play.
But, like with many things, ultra-high-net-worth individuals — people with at least $30m in assets — aren’t content with simply kicking a soccer ball around a local field in a pick-up game.
The world’s wealthy tend to join expensive clubs, buy top-of-the-line equipment and participate in sports that may require massive amounts of money to support.
Why spend so much when basketball and tennis courts at the local park are free?
“It’s a ‘birds of a feather flock together’ kind of thing,” said Thomas Corley, author of Rich Habits, a book about the practices of affluent individuals. “Wealthy people like to hang around other wealthy people. Sports can open doors and help them develop contacts. They buy memberships to golf and country clubs — it’s a cool way for wealthy people to build relationships.”
Certainly the ultra-wealthy play the same sports as regular people, but take a closer look and you’ll see they don’t play the games quite the same way, or for the same reasons as everyone else.
