I would assume if they are buying them they think can make money. Some teams are just very poorly run and proper management can turn them around. Manchester United is the most valuable sports franchise in the world so I would say all of them are hemorrhaging money. Sports teams can make a lot of money. George Bush made his money on the Texas Rangers and they have never been a great team. The Dallas Mavericks were bought for 200 million and are now almost worth 500 million.

Checking Forbes it does look like they are not a bad investment. 186Million in revenue and 35 million in income is not bad for 372 million dollar investment.