The National Football League plans to meet in Minneapolis on August 27 to discuss and possibly vote on allowing institutional investors to buy stakes in teams.
The league held meetings this week with several private equity firms in hopes of finalizing a framework to present to owners, people with knowledge of the matter said. After those meetings, league executives and owners felt confident enough to present a potential framework to other owners.
The NFL formed a committee last year to study how the league could allow private equity firms to buy into teams. The group includes Kansas City Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, Denver Broncos owner and CEO Greg Penner and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
Bloomberg reported In May, the owners focused on allowing institutional investors to buy 10% of the club. Some owners wanted to cap it at 5%. The league’s owners will also select a small group of vetted companies to have the first chance to buy shares.
NFL hired PJT Partnerinvestment bank, to evaluate interest from private equity, Sportico reported. Firms under consideration include Arctos Partners LP, Ares Management Avenue Capital Group, Carlyle GroupSixth Street and CVC Capital Partners, the people said. The union has also had meetings with Slat and Dynasty Equity, according to Sportico.
The NFL will be the last major American professional sports league to allow private equity firms to buy into teams. The NBA, which has teams closest to the NFL in terms of valuation, allows private equity firms to buy up to 20% of a single franchise, and an NBA team can only have 30% ownership from institutional investors.
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