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Which schools produce most pro sports owners?

Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert is one of three professional team owners who attended Wayne State University. Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Ryan Fitzpatrick, Matt Birk and Desmond Bryant are primarily known for two things: 1) They are NFL players (for the Bills, Ravens and Raiders, respectively) and 2) They went to Harvard.

The second distinction exists only because, let's face it, Harvard isn't exactly known for churning out pro football players like, say, Alabama or LSU.

But the Ivy League institution is prolific when it comes to generating future owners of pro sports teams, according to Wall Street Journal. The newspaper crunched the data of 122 NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL franchises to see where the team owners attended school.

According to the newspaper, Harvard boasts the most (seven) professional franchise owners in sports, including New England Patriots boss Robert Kraft and Milwaukee Bucks owner Sen. Herb Kohl.

But Harvard doesn't corner the Ivy League market for team czars. Columbia (four), Dartmouth (three), Penn (three) and Yale (three) also make the list, according to the Journal.

See the Wall Street Journal article and full list

None of this is too shocking considering these universities cater to privileged students who often already have an impressive bankroll before they even graduate.

However, all of the Harvard alums who oversee pro teams spent their time in Cambridge as graduate students. So who leads the leagues in undergrad owners? That would be Georgetown with six alums, according to the Journal. Ted Leonsis, who owns the Wizards and Capitals, and beleaguered Dodgers owner Frank McCourt are among the former Hoya undergraduates.

One lesser known school also cracks the list: Wayne State University in Michigan. Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert is one of three pro team owners who are Wayne State grads (he went to law school there). While WSU may not have the national reputation as Harvard, it may soon surpass the Crimson soon enough in churning out pro football players. After all, on Friday, the Wayne State Warriors are playing in their first NCAA Division II college football championship game.

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