Powerball: The sports teams you can buy if you win the $1.6 billion jackpot
Powerball offers a jackpot of 1.6 billion dollars! If the lucky winner has sports interests, these are the teams they could buy.
Powerball is one of the most important lottery draws in the United States, officially sold in 45 states of the country, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
For the draw on Saturday, November 5, the lottery has announced a jackpot of $1.6 billion dollars, being the first time in Powerball history that the estimated jackpot is so high. To win the jackpot the player needs to match five numbers plus the Powerball.
The sports teams you can buy if you win the jackpot
If the lucky winner has sports interests, they could very well become the owner of a soccer or baseball club.
According to figures from Forbes and Sportico in 2021, these are the ten football clubs with a value within the range of the Powerball jackpot:
| AC Milan | $1.2bn |
| Inter Milan | $1bn |
| Everton | $940m |
| Leicester City | $925m |
| Los Angeles FC | $900m |
| West Ham United | $900m |
| LA Galaxy | $865m |
| Atlanta United | $875m |
| Leeds United | $800m |
| Aston Villa | $750m |
Although the list only shows a total of ten clubs, the truth is that the winner could acquire any of the 28 Major League Soccer (MLS) teams,since the value of each of they is under a billion dollars.
The acquisitions are not limited to soccer and could make the jump from the soccer field to the baseball field with the following Major League Baseball teams, worth less than $1.6 billion dollars.
| Minnesota Twins | $1.59bn |
| Milwaukee Brewers | $1.43bn |
| Detroit Tigers | $1.45bn |
| Colorado Rockies | $1.43bn |
| Cincinnati Reds | $1.42bn |
| Cleveland Indians | $1.39bn |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | $1.36bn |
| Oakland Athletics | $1.34bn |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | $1.3bn |
| Kansas City Royals | $1.21bn |
| Tampa Bay Rays | $1.19bn |
| Miami Marlins | $1.06 |
If the winner turns out to be a loyal NFL fan, unfortunately, he or she will not be able to participate in the acquisition of any franchise in the league since the lowest value - Cincinnati Bengals - stands at $2.84 billion dollars.
Powerball: How is the jackpot collected?
If you hit the jackpot, there are two ways to collect your prize: 30 tiered payments over 29 years, or a one-time cash payment worth $782.4 million.
If you go for the second option, you need to keep in mind that $782.4 million is still a lot of cash, which means there are hefty taxes to pay. With the top tax rate at 37%, lottery winnings would be in the ballpark of $289 million.