National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell after the morning session at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho on July 10, 2024.
Kevork Djansezian | Getty Images
The National Football League is considering allowing minority private equity ownership for its 32 teams of up to 10 percent, Commissioner Roger Goodell said in an exclusive interview with CNBC on Thursday.
“As sports evolve, we want to make sure our policies reflect that,” Goodell told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin in an interview at Allen & Co.’s annual Sun Valley conference. “We had huge interest [from private equity firms], and we think this could make sense for us in a limited way, probably no more than 10% of a group. That would be something that we feel could complement our property and support our property policies.”
The NFL hopes to determine the new ownership policies by the end of the year, Goodell said. The 10 percent cap would be a starting point, and the league is open to raising it in time, he said.
While other major US sports leagues, including the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League and Major League Soccer allow private equity ownership of up to 30%, the NFL has resisted taking money from institutional funds such as private funds, preferring limited partners to be individuals or families.
WATCH: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Discusses Ownership Policies, International Expansion
But franchise valuations have steadily risen as the NFL has signed lucrative media deals, meaning fewer people can afford team ownership. In 2023, Josh Harris, co-founder of private equity firm Apollo Global Management, led a team that paid $6.05 billion for the Washington Governors – the most money ever spent on a professional sports franchise in the US.
“Unless you’re one of the 50 richest people [in the world]writing a $5 billion equity check is hard enough for anybody,” Harris told CNBC “Squawk Box” co-host Andrew Ross Sorkin at the CNBC CEO Council Summit in Washington, DC, last month.
Harris asked 20 people to raise money for his bid, including former NBA superstar Magic Johnson. former Google CEO Eric Schmidt; and David Blitzer, the Blackstone Group executive who previously worked with Harris to buy the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.
“Raising this amount of capital was unique; it had never been done before,” Harris said. “I think it might lead to some reconsideration of whether we let private equity, for example, or institutional investors come into the NFL.”
The National Women’s Soccer League allows private equity firms to take majority control of franchise teams, unlike other US professional sports leagues. Private equity incentives around meeting investment goals and exit thresholds could alter ownership incentives in ways that make major sports leagues uncomfortable.
Minority stakes usually have little or no decision-making power in the group. That is likely to be a comfort to the NFL if it allows private equity investors, but it has also limited the number of people interested in taking smaller stakes in teams.
“These people are really rich and successful. They’re used to being the center of the universe. And now you go, I need a quarter of a billion dollars. Great, what can I get? Nothing,” Ted Leonsis, the owner of Washington Capitals, Wizards and Mystics, he told ESPN in May. “Do you have any control? Any role? No, you’re passive investors. You’ll get your name on a website somewhere or something and you’ll be able to tell people I own a piece of an NFL team.”
Private equity firms, tasked with finding investment vehicles for the return on their assets under management, may be better suited to minority ownership.
