Billionaires….they’re just like us! Next time you get a nagging phone call from your law school asking you to donate more money to the school that still has you buried under a mountain of debt, take heart that there are folks out there ready to answer that call that you can’t.
That’s where Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and Cleveland Cavs owner Dan Gilbert come in. The pair of franchise owners are both grads of the Detroit-area law school and, on the occasion of their induction into the Miller Family Wayne Law Alumni Wall of Fame, have donated $5 million each to the school. It also set up an important research question for Wayne: can you cash a check printed in Comic Sans?
One might wonder why guys worth a combined $17 billion could scrounge up only $10 million.[1] Sure, that’s roughly the equivalent of a first-year handing over $100, but they can probably get by a little easier without that money than the associate. After all, the associate may need that money for dinner, while a pro sports owner can just ask the poor people living in the forgotten hovels surrounding their stadiums to suck up a tax hike so the team can get just that much richer! It’s the American way!
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In fairness, Ross has only requested that Miami kick in to pay for another stadium and pouted like a baby when they refused to give a $12 billionaire a welfare handout in exchange for a continually subpar team. Gilbert, on the other hand, is actually doing the adult thing and investing a billion of his own money into a new MLS stadium, which is either his strong stance against owners pilfering from the public or further proof that no red-blooded American fan base will brook paying for JV soccer.
Congrats to Wayne Law on its new gift and congrats to Ross and Gilbert on their induction into the Wall of Fame. You are inspirations to young Wayne students that if they apply themselves, they too can run atrocious teams.[2]
[1] Ross has given something like $200 million to the University of Michigan, which, in a sense, makes this kind of an insult of a gift. It’s like… he bought one of his grandsons a Ferrari and then handed the other one a Vespa. A used Vespa.
[2] Maybe you’ll point out that Gilbert’s team just won a world title, but this is where we remember that Gilbert’s only accomplishment is owning a team in the same city as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport who just so happens to be homesick… for frigging CLEVELAND.
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Gilbert, Ross each donate $5 million to Wayne State Law [Detroit Free Press]
Joe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.