The NFL could vote soon on letting private equity firms buy stakes in teams

The league held meetings with multiple private equity firms this week in the hopes of completing a framework to present to owners, people with knowledge of the matter said. After those meetings, league executives and owners feel confident enough to present a potential framework to other owners. 

The NFL formed a committee last year to study how the league might allow private equity firms to buy into teams. The group consists of its chair, Kansas City Chiefs 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 were zeroing-in on allowing institutional investors to be able to buy 10% of clubs. Some owners would like the cap at 5%. The league’s owners would also select a small group of vetted firms to have the first opportunity to purchase stakes.

The NFL hired PJT Partners, an investment bank, to assess interest from private equity, Sportico reported. Firms in consideration include Arctos Partners LP, Ares Management Corp., Avenue Capital Group, Carlyle Group, Sixth Street and CVC Capital Partners, the people said.  The league also had meetings with Blackstone and Dynasty Equity, according to Sportico.

The NFL would be the last major American professional sports league to approve private equity firms buying into teams. The NBA, whose teams are the closest to the NFL’s 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% of its ownership coming from institutional investors.