Diddy wants to buy the Carolina Panthers. He wouldn’t be the first celebrity to own a sports team.

Rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs is trying to buy the Carolina Panthers, and it’s not as far-fetched as you might think.

Diddy is hardly the first to try and cross over from music to sports. There’s a long tradition of successful musicians investing their earnings in football, baseball and basketball franchises.

He reportedly is serious, though, and is meeting with investors in hopes of “shaping a prospective ownership group,” reports Yahoo! Sports, citing multiple sources.

If he succeeds, here’s who he might be joining in the owner’s luxury boxes:

▪ Jay-Z: Rapper/impresario Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter became minority owner of the NBA’s Nets franchise in 2005, eventually helping relocate the team from New Jersey to Brooklyn. He sold his stake in the team in 2013 to go into sports management with Roc Nation Sports, which represents sports stars like Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant and Keven Durant of the NBA champion Golden State Warriors.

▪ Beyoncé, who is married to Jay-Z, also has been looking into buying a stake in the NBA, with her hometown Houston Rockets. Her former Destiny’s Child bandmate Michelle Williams is part owner of the WNBA’s Chicago Sky with Beyoncé’s father, Matthew Knowles.

▪ Justin Timberlake: Timberlake is a minority owner of the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies, who moved from Vancouver to the star’s original hometown in 2001. Earlier this year, Timberlake appeared in a video that was made to convince free-agent point guard Mike Conley to stay with the team. It worked.

▪ Miami Dolphins: This NFL team gets a category all to itself, given how many celebrity musicians it numbers among its owners over the years. Along with tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams, the Dolphins’ ownership roster includes Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas, the Miami Sound Machine braintrust of Gloria and Emilio Estefan, and singer Marc Anthony. Jennifer Lopez, Anthony’s ex-wife, also was on the ownership roster at one point.

▪ Usher: Atlanta singer/actor Usher Raymond IV has been part of an investor group that owns the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers since 2005. The ownership group includes movie producer Gary Gilbert (“La La Land,” “Garden State”), brother of majority owner/Quicken Loans chairman Dan Gilbert.

▪ Nelly: Rapper Nelly, born Cornell Iral Haynes Jr., has been a part owner of the NBA’s Charlotte franchise since the Charlotte Bobcats started as an expansion team in 2004. Michael Jordan became majority owner in 2010, and the team eventually brought back the franchise’s original Hornets name.

▪ Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith: The Fresh Prince and his actress wife have been part owners of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers since 2011.

▪  Jon Bon Jovi: The newly minted Rock and Roll Hall of Famer was majority owner of the Arena Football League’s Philadelphia Soul from 2004 to 2009. During Bon Jovi’s reign, the team won the league’s ArenaBowl championship in 2008.

Also on the AFL front, country star Tim McGraw (coming to Raleigh with his wife Faith Hill in 2018) was part owner of the Nashville Kats until 2007, when the team was shut down at the behest of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans. And Kiss co-leaders Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley owned the LA Kiss before it shut down in 2016.

▪  Nick Lachey: The 98 Degrees singer and reality-television star made an unsuccessful attempt to buy into his hometown baseball team, the Cincinnati Reds. After that failed, he became one-third owner of the minor-league team the Tacoma Rainers in 2006.

▪  Elton John: At the height of his popularity in 1976, John bought an ownership stake in the U.K. soccer team Watford F.C. He left that role three decades later, retaining the title “Honorary Life President” until he resigned it in 2008.

▪  Gene Autry: The singing cowboy was a pioneer in team ownership. He was first majority owner of the Los Angeles Angels baseball team in 1961. He owned the Angels for 36 years and died in 1998. The Angels didn’t win a World Series until four years after Autry’s death, but outfielder Tim Salmon paid tribute by bringing out one of his trademark white Stetson hats during the victory celebration.

This story was originally published December 20, 2017 at 1:53 PM with the headline "Diddy wants to buy the Carolina Panthers. He wouldn’t be the first celebrity to own a sports team.."