F1 legend Lewis Hamilton strikes it rich with genius deal as $10bn valuation looms

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton strikes it rich with genius deal as $10bn valuation looms

Hamilton is winning off the track as well

Graham Shaw Consultant Editor

Digital sports specialist running global brands for 30 years

Wednesday 5 August 2026 08:12 Updated: 09:30

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For Lewis Hamilton, just about everything he touches turns to gold, and the seven-time F1 world champion is proving it once again.

The 41-year-old British megastar is not only one of greatest drivers in the sport’s history, he has also been wildly successful from a commercial perspective. Just like his billionaire girlfriend Kim Kardashian.

Hamilton earns a reported $60million annual salary with Ferrari, but that is just part of the success story. He also owns a string of high-end properties and investments, and one of those - made just four years ago - is already paying off in a huge way.

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Hamilton's Denver Broncos stake is a goldmine

Back in 2022 Hamilton was one of a group of investors who bought the NFL’s Denver Broncos for a then record $4.65bn price tag. The group, headed by Walmart heir Rob Walton, also included the likes of Hamilton and former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as minority investors.

At the time it looked like a smart investment on the part of Hamilton, who appears regularly in sporting rich lists and calls a luxury Monaco apartment his main base. But even he might be surprised by the way his relatively small stake is growing in value.

NFL franchise values going through the roof

These are wild times for America’s number one pro sport with TV revenues going through the roof and franchise values following suit.

The latest proof came just a couple of weeks ago when the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks were sold for a new record $9.612billion to the Khosla family - obliterating all previous sale prices.

The impact for the Broncos, and by design Hamilton, is very very positive here. Before that Seattle sale, all current franchise valuation models had Denver pretty much aligned with the Seahawks.

The annual list of valuations from business bible Forbes had the Broncos listed at $6.8billion in 2025 with Seattle on $6.7billion. So within 12 months, we have those expectations being outperformed by another 50 percent. Astonishing stuff.

All this means that Denver, and multiple other NFL franchises, are now ballpark valued at $10billion each, or more. Pretty soon that mythical figure will be smashed, and pretty soon after that it will look like small potatoes.

It also means Hamilton has pretty much doubled his money in the space of four short years, and the gold rush is unlikely to stop there.

Hamilton timed it right as TV revenues rocketed

Sir Lewis got into this game at exactly the right time, just as NFL TV revenues were really starting to explode. The NFL signed landmark 11-year deals worth $111billion in 2021 with the likes of CBS, FOX, Amazon and ESPN.

Hamilton timed his NFL investment perfectly.

We are not even halfway through those deals and already the talk is NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wants TV execs back at the table to renegotiate again. And reportedly he wants a massive increase on what networks are already paying.

All of this means one thing - more revenue for owners and even greater valuations for franchises, who are also now allowed to sell off small chunks of their teams.

NFL boom has echoes of F1

It’s an astonishing success story, one which is a perfect storm for Hamilton and his fellow investors. And it also has echoes of what is happening in F1 right now.

The boom brought by the advent of hit Netflix show Drive to Survive following the Liberty Media purchase means motorsport’s premier series is also picking up speed when it comes to team values.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff recently sold a small part of his stake in the Silver Arrows for a massive $300million, which valued it at a record $5.97billion.

Growing TV revenues, promoter fees and merchandising - added to the cost cap which stops teams busting their development budgets - means teams are much more likely to turn a profit, and grow their valuations.

So while Hamilton continues to win on the track, he also continues to win off it. A world-class driver and a pretty smart investor. And the dollars continue to roll in.

Forbes NFL Franchise Valuations 2025

Rank	Team	Value	1-Yr Change	Revenue	Operating Income	Owner
1	Dallas Cowboys	$13 billion	+29%	$1.234 billion	$629 million	Jerry Jones
2	Los Angeles Rams	$10.5 billion	+38%	$764 million	$244 million	E. Stanley Kroenke
3	New York Giants	$10.1 billion	+38%	$707 million	$181 million	John Mara, Steven Tisch
4	New England Patriots	$9 billion	+22%	$762 million	$222 million	Robert Kraft
5	San Francisco 49ers	$8.6 billion	+26%	$723 million	$115 million	York family
6	Philadelphia Eagles	$8.3 billion	+26%	$688 million	$117 million	Jeffrey Lurie
7	Chicago Bears	$8.2 billion	+28%	$629 million	$80 million	McCaskey family
8	New York Jets	$8.1 billion	+17%	$663 million	$180 million	Johnson family
9	Las Vegas Raiders	$7.7 billion	+19%	$832 million	$179 million	Mark Davis
10	Washington Commanders	$7.6 billion	+21%	$644 million	$116 million	Josh Harris
11	Miami Dolphins	$7.5 billion	+21%	$656 million	$63 million	Stephen Ross
12	Houston Texans	$7.4 billion	+21%	$687 million	$156 million	Cal McNair
13	Denver Broncos	$6.8 billion	+24%	$645 million	$103 million	Greg Penner
14	Seattle Seahawks	$6.7 billion	+23%	$624 million	$143 million	Paul G. Allen Trust
15	Green Bay Packers	$6.65 billion	+19%	$719 million	$83 million	Shareholders (public)
16	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	$6.6 billion	+22%	$629 million	$130 million	Glazer family
17	Pittsburgh Steelers	$6.5 billion	+23%	$619 million	$137 million	Rooney family
18	Cleveland Browns	$6.4 billion	+24%	$685 million	$90 million	Dee and Jimmy Haslam
19	Atlanta Falcons	$6.35 billion	+22%	$612 million	$37 million	Arthur Blank
20	Tennessee Titans	$6.3 billion	+29%	$582 million	$93 million	Amy Adams Strunk
21	Minnesota Vikings	$6.25 billion	+24%	$609 million	$70 million	Zygmunt Wilf
22	Kansas City Chiefs	$6.2 billion	+28%	$610 million	$66 million	Hunt family
23	Baltimore Ravens	$6.1 billion	+22%	$621 million	$115 million	Stephen Bisciotti
24	Los Angeles Chargers	$6 billion	+18%	$593 million	$105 million	Dean Spanos
25	Buffalo Bills	$5.95 billion	+42%	$585 million	$104 million	Terrence and Kim Pegula
26	Indianapolis Colts	$5.9 billion	+23%	$593 million	$109 million	Irsay family
27	Carolina Panthers	$5.7 billion	+27%	$588 million	$36 million	David Tepper
28	Jacksonville Jaguars	$5.6 billion	+22%	$552 million	$106 million	Shahid Khan
29	Arizona Cardinals	$5.5 billion	+28%	$571 million	$62 million	Michael Bidwill
30	Detroit Lions	$5.4 billion	+30%	$585 million	$21 million	Ford family
31	New Orleans Saints	$5.3 billion	+20%	$607 million	$115 million	Gayle Benson
32	Cincinnati Bengals	$5.25 billion	+28%	$573 million	$50 million	Michael Brown

Source: Forbes, "The NFL's Most Valuable Teams 2025" (published August 28, 2025; rankings updated November 10, 2025). Revenue and operating income figures are Forbes' 2024-season projections.

Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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