Earlier this month, comedian and actress Wanda Sykes took a jab at Josh Harris during a press conference at City Hall where the Sixers and Flyers announced they’re teaming up to build a new stadium in South Philadelphia.

“Go Birds, sorry Josh!” Sykes said.

Philadelphians likely won’t be that polite if they see Harris in public before the NFC championship between the Eagles and Washington Commanders this week.

Harris owns the Sixers, but he also owns the Commanders and will likely be at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday for the NFC title game with a Super Bowl berth on the line.

Who is Josh Harris?

Harris is an American investor and sports team owner. He grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland, which is just outside of Washington D.C. He graduated with a degree in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and got an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1990.

Harris worked on Wall Street in New York City at the investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert as a financial analyst in their mergers and acquisitions department after college.

In 1990, Harris founded Apollo Global Management, an asset management firm that invests in alternative assets, with Leon Black and Marc Rowan.

Josh Harris owns what teams?

Harris and David Blitzer, the founders of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, have owned the Sixers since 2011. They bought the NBA franchise from Comcast Spectacor for $280 million. It has more than quadrupled in value since they bought the franchise, according to Forbes.

Two years later, Harris and Blitzer bought the New Jersey Devils — a rival of the Flyers — for $320 million from Jeffrey Vanderbeek, who was involved with the team’s ownership in some capacity since 2000.

In 2015, Harris became a general partner of Crystal Palace F.C., a Premier League soccer club in London. He owns an 18% stake in the club. Harris is also a minority owner of Joe Gibbs Racing, an American professional stock car racing organization.

HBSE bought a combined $140 million stake in the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2020, but after leading a group that purchased the Commanders in 2023, Harris and Blitzer were forced to sell their Steelers stake due to NFL rules. Harris bought the Commanders from Dan Snyder for $6.05 billion, the highest price ever paid for a sports team. The group has 20 limited partners, including Magic Johnson.

In the past, Harris has also pursued bids on the New York Mets and Denver Broncos and explored buying stakes in Manchester United.

Josh Harris’ net worth

According to Forbes, Harris’ net worth is $11.2 billion and ranks 212th in the world today.

Josh Harris’ time as Sixers owner

Harris’ tenure as the Sixers’ owner has been filled with highs and lows for fans.

In the first season with Harris as owner, the Sixers made it to the Eastern Conference Semifinals and took the Boston Celtics to seven games but lost the series.

After that season, the Sixers made their first big move with Harris as owner in a blockbuster trade that landed the team Andrew Bynum from the Los Angeles Lakers. But that trade was a major miss. Bynum never even suited up in a Sixers uniform for one game due to knee injuries.

The Sixers then entered “The Process,” one of the most controversial rebuilds in sports history. Harris hired Sam Hinkie to have the team deliberately lose in order to strengthen the team’s draft position and collect as many assets as possible. The Sixers had plenty of misses during this era, but the selection of Joel Embiid in 2014 eventually returned the team to relevancy. Embiid hasn’t been healthy in the 2024 season, but after sitting out for two years due to injuries he became one of the most dominant players in the sport and won the 2022-23 NBA MVP Award.

Hinkie was eventually ousted as Sixers general manager. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and the rest of the league’s owners weren’t big fans of “The Process,” which led to them intervening with the Sixers and having them hire Jerry Colangelo as a chairman of basketball operations and a special adviser to the team’s managing partner. Hinkie eventually resigned in a 13-page letter and the team hired Colangelo’s son, Bryan, as his replacement.

But Bryan Colangelo’s time in Philadelphia ended with a scandal of his own. Colangelo resigned after The Ringer published an investigation that found the disgraced general manager using several burning accounts on X to criticize Hinkie and Sixers players, including Embiid.

The Sixers haven’t been past the second round of the playoffs since 2001, and under Harris’ ownership, the team has gotten close to accomplishing that feat on several occasions. Kawhi Leonard’s quadruple-doink ruined what was likely their best chance of winning a title in the 2018-19 season with Jimmy Butler, and the team had an epic collapse against the Atlanta Hawks in the playoffs two seasons later.

The Hawks loss led to the drama-filled Ben Simmons exit that dragged on for months. The Sixers eventually acquired James Harden in a deal for Simmons, but he also had an exit that dominated headlines. Harden requested a trade two seasons later and even called Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey a “liar” during an event in China.

Now, the Sixers are having their worst season in the Embiid era at 15-27 and sit 11th in the Eastern Conference as Harris’ Commanders come to Philly with a chance to do something his basketball team has never done before.