The owner of Detroit’s new Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) team also owns every other PWHL club.
And the Los Angeles Dodgers.
And the Los Angeles Lakers.
Mark Walter, who has a net worth of about $11.3 billion, according to a report from Bloomberg, is among the most powerful owners in all of sports.
Bloomberg lists him as the 321st richest person in the world.
The 66-year-old businessman from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, made headlines last year when he bought a majority stake in the Lakers for a $10 billion valuation.
He also has minority stakes in Chelsea FC, the Los Angeles Sparks and Cadillac Formula 1, among others.
Walter is the CEO of Guggenheim Partners, a global investment company with an estimated $362 billion in assets, according to the company’s website.
He is also co-chairman and CEO of TWG Global, according to a news release, a holding company that operates and invests in financial services.
The PWHL only has one owner?
The PWHL is under a single ownership model, meaning Walter is the only owner. There are no individual team owners.
When asked how long it would take before the league might offer individual owners access to franchises, Amy Scheer, PWHL executive vice president of business operations, told reporters Wednesday there was “no timeline for that.”
Detroit will host the 2026 PWHL awards ceremony on June 16, and the 2026 PWHL Draft on June 17, with the draft taking place at Fox Theatre as a ticketed event open to fans.
The relatively new league was launched on Jan. 1, 2024, with an abbreviated first season in the spring of 2024.
The original PWHL teams include the Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Montréal Victoire, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge and Toronto Sceptres.
The PWHL expanded for the first time last season, adding the Seattle Torrent and Vancouver Goldeneyes in the Pacific Northwest.
The Minnesota Frost are two-time defending champions, with back-to-back wins in the Walter Cup Playoffs.
Who is Mark Walter? Billionaire sports owner’s background
Walter earned his bachelor’s degree from Creighton University and a juris doctorate from Northwestern University School of Law.
After a stint at a law firm, he founded Liberty Hampshire, an investment company in 1996, according to Bloomberg.
In 2000, he and his partners folded Liberty Hampshire into Guggenheim Partners.
Walter bought the Dodgers in 2012 and won his first MLB World series eight years later.
The Dodgers also won back-to-back World Series championships in 2024 and 2025.
His nonprofit, the Walters Family Foundation, says it is committed to supporting global environmental projects that conserve the natural environment.
Walter is married to Kimbra Walter.
Jalen Williams is a trending reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at jawilliams1@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Meet the billionaire owner behind Detroit’s new PWHL team
Reporting by Jalen Williams, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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