It's "Revenge of the Nerds" in its purest form. Major league sports owners and investors are those brilliant, well-suited minds sitting pretty in the A/C behind the blood, sweat and tears of the game. They don't always make the headlines, but they're certainly making some cash.

With the news that billionaire Robert J. Pera, founder and CEO of the Ubiquiti Networks, just added the Memphis Grizzlies to his assets, we thought it was time to highlight the tech geeks, ahem, tech millionaires and billionaires behind some of the biggest sports franchises in the world.

Tech Geeks Who Made It Big In Sports Slideshow

 

Robert J. Pera

We'll start with Pera so you can get to know him a little better. The 34 year-old made Forbes' list of the world's 10 youngest billionaires, having racked up a net worth of $1.5 billion. He made a name for himself as an engineer at Apple before leaving at the age of 25 to go it alone. According to ESPN, he speaks Chinese and Japanese, and plays basketball a few times a week.

 

Paul Allen

The co-founder of Microsoft may have dropped out of Washington State University, but he's making up for it. He owns the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers, and made a significant investment in the Seattle Sounders and Qwest Field. Allen definitely has nerd chic down to an art -- a science nut, he helped build the largest aircraft ever made with test flights planned for 2015. Did we mention he owns a personal deep-sea remote operated vehicle? With a net worth of $14.2 billion, wouldn't you?

 

Mark Cuban

Cuban is one of the lucky ones who came out of the Dot Com boom on top after selling Broadcast.com to Yahoo.com. The outspoken owner of the Dallas Mavericks is also a prolific blogger, offering advice for students and hopeful entrepreneurs. He bought the Mavs in 2000 for $280 million, and also owns HDNet, Landmark Theatres and Magnolia Pictures. Cuban caught the entrepreneurialism bug early, collecting and selling stamps at a young age to pay for college. Did make fun of a kid with a stamp collection? Well, that kid could end up like Cuban, with a net worth of $2.3 billion. Lick that.

 

Nintendo

With the handlebar moustache and overalls, Super Mario is clearly a prominent tech geek in sports. Are you furrowing your brow? It might be a stretch, but Nintendo actually owns the Seattle Mariners. In 1992, the company's then-president Hiroshi Yamauchi bought the team. Yep, that was when the Mariners had Ken Griffey Jr. and a nascent Alex Rodriguez. Talk about gold coins. But the success for the Mariners has been up and down from there, not unlike my Wii golf swing.

 

Larry Ellison

He may not own a major league franchise, but with a net worth of $36.5 billion, the CEO of Oracle Corporation is the third wealthiest American and a devoted investor behind some of the biggest tennis and yachting events out there. The enterprise software tycoon bankrolls the BMW Oracle Racing team, which won the 2010 America's Cup in yachting. Also on Ellison's resume is 50 percent share in the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament. We'd tell you about the $200 million yacht (the eighth largest in the world) that he sold to David Geffen, but that would be boring.

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