| Mark Attanasio | |
| Birth Date: | 29 September 1957 |
| Birth Place: | The Bronx, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Principal Owner of the Milwaukee Brewers Majority Shareholder of Norwich City Senior executive, Crescent Capital Group and Trust Company of the West |
| Education: | Brown University, A.B. 1979 Columbia Law School, J.D. 1982 |
Mark L. Attanasio (born September 29, 1957) is an American businessman from the Bronx who is the principal owner of the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the majority shareholder of football club Norwich City.[1] He is worth an estimated $700 million.[2]
In September 2004, he reached a deal, on behalf of an investment group, to purchase the Brewers from the family of MLB commissioner Bud Selig for an estimated US$223 million.[3] The deal was approved by MLB in 2005.[4]
Attanasio was born in the Bronx, New York, and grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey, where he attended high school.[5] He graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1979 and received his Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School in 1982.[6]
Attanasio co-founded and is a senior executive of the Los Angeles alternative investment firm Crescent Capital Group in 1991, which was later bought by Trust Company of the West in 1995.[7] [8]
In 2001, Attanasio joined the board of directors at the telecommunications firm Global Crossing, which filed for bankruptcy in January 2002.[9] He resigned his position on the board shortly thereafter.[10]
In September 2004, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Selig family announced that they had accepted Attanasio's bid to buy the team.[11]
In 2023, the Brewers reached an agreement with Wisconsin lawmakers for taxpayers to subsidize renovations of American Family Field, the Brewers stadium, to the tune of nearly half a billion dollars.[12] In the lead-up to the agreement, Brewers officials threatened to leave Milwaukee unless the team received taxpayer money.[13]
In August 2022, it was announced that Attanasio would become a director of Norwich City, an act Attanasio said was his proudest achievement.[14] It was later reported that he would be purchasing an 18% stake in the club from Michael Foulger under the business group Norfolk Holdings.[15] In April 2024, Attanasio’s stake in the club was increased to 40.4% following EFL ratification, making him one of the joint majority shareholders alongside Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones.[1]
On 23 October 2024, Attanasio & Norfolk Holdings became the sole majority shareholders of the club, after the clubs other shareholders approved a deal that saw their stake in the club increase to 85% and decrease Smith & Wynn-Jones stake to 10%. As part of the deal, Attanasio appointed businessman Richard Ressler to the board as a club director, while Smith & Wynn-Jones agreed to step down from their roles as club directors to become honorary life presidents.[16]
Along with Brewers assistant general manager Gord Ash and former Brewers pitcher Ben Sheets, Attanasio is also a part-owner of the American Hockey League's Milwaukee Admirals.[17]
He was a major sponsor of the widely acclaimed Andy Warhol exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum.[18]
He is also on the board of directors for LA28.
Mark is the brother of television writer Paul Attanasio.[19] He is married to Deborah (née Kaplan) and has two sons, Dan and Mike. His eldest son Dan and his rock band, Pan Am, performed at Summerfest 2008 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[20]