NFL Expected to Change League Ownership Structure to Include Private Equity

The NFL is the only major professional sports league in the world who does not allow for private equity or sovereign wealth funds to buy a stake in the team. While the latter is still up in the air as to whether the NFL will ever open their doors to an entity like the Saudi Public Investment Fund which has taken over sports like golf and soccer with Newcastle United, all indications are that the private equitization of football has begun. Per ESPN:

The owners flew to Minnesota for a special session called by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, where they are expected to approve allowing the sale of up to 10% of a stake in a franchise to a select number of private equity firms the league has vetted at over the last few months, according to ESPN and multiple reports.

Since the NFL’s inception in 1920, most teams have been owned by one person or family, and the league is being cautious about allowing private equity firms to take a controlling interest in NFL teams. I like to think it’s because they saw what private equity did to **gestures everywhere** and does not want to ruin their product in the name of making some guys in Manhattan more money, but this is the NFL, perhaps our most ego driven sports league. Owners treat their teams like their own little fiefdoms and Occam’s Razor here is they don’t want to share their toys, which is probably the main reason why the league is expected to cap this investment stake at ten percent of a franchise. Billionaire sports owners will always want financial help but they sure as hell don’t want another voice with power in their buildings.

The crux of the issue here is that the rent is too damn high and everything has become too expensive, including NFL teams. My beloved Denver Broncos sold for $4.65 billion in 2022, and the Washington Commanders sold for $6.05 billion in 2023 to a group including a ton of limited partners. NFL teams cost so much now that there are very few people left who can meet the astronomical cash requirements to purchase one who have not done so already.

The NFL is smart enough to restrict investors abilities to purchase entire franchises with debt, although they did vote earlier this year to loosen the debt limits to buy a team, because in that world Donald Trump might own ten NFL squads. However, that also dramatically limits the universe of potential buyers who actually have ten figures in cash to plunk down to buy a team.

It seems inevitable that entities like the Saudi Public Investment fund and large private equity funds will eventually take a serious, perhaps controlling, stake in NFL teams. The amount of money at stake is beyond offensive in a world where a lot of folks struggle to just make ends meet, and the NFL has now even priced itself out of some of America’s most elite spaces. Now they are opening up their books to a universe it has long resisted, providing yet another example of how capitalism is swallowing the world whole.