National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell after the morning session at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, July 10, 2024.
Kevork Djansezian | Getty Images
The National Football League is considering allowing private minority ownership of up to 10% of its 32 teams, 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 said in an interview with CNBC's Julia Boorstin at Allen & Co.'s annual Sun Valley Conference. “We've had a tremendous amount of interest [from private equity firms]”We think this could make sense for us on a limited basis, probably no more than 10% of a team. That would be something we think could complement our ownership and support our ownership policies.”
The NFL hopes to have its new ownership policies in place by the end of the year, Goodell said. The 10% limit would be a starting point and the league is open to increasing it over time, he said.
While other major U.S. 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 equity, preferring that limited partners be individuals or families.
WATCH: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell discusses ownership policies and international expansion
But franchise valuations have steadily risen as the NFL has signed lucrative media deals, meaning fewer people can afford to own a team. In 2023, Josh Harris, co-founder of private equity firm Apollo Global Management, led a group that paid $6.05 billion for the Washington Commanders, the most money ever spent on an American professional sports franchise.
“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's “Squawk Box” co-host Andrew Ross Sorkin at the CNBC CEO Council Summit in Washington, D.C., last month.
Harris has chosen 20 people to help raise money for his bid, including former NBA superstar Magic Johnson; former Google CEO Eric Schmidt; and David Blitzer, the top Blackstone Group executive who previously partnered with Harris to buy the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.
“Raising that amount of capital was unique, it had never been done before,” Harris said. “I think it may be leading some to rethink the possibility of allowing private equity, for example, or institutional investors into the NFL.”
The National Women’s Soccer League allows private equity firms to take majority control of franchise teams, unlike other U.S. professional sports leagues. Private equity incentives around meeting investment targets and exit thresholds could alter motivations for ownership in ways that make larger sports leagues uncomfortable.
Minority stakes typically involve little or no decision-making power in the team. This is likely comforting to the NFL if it allows private equity investors to participate, but it has also limited the number of people interested in acquiring smaller stakes in teams.
“These people are really rich and successful. They're used to being the center of the universe. And now you're like, 'I need $250 million. Great, what do I get? Nothing,'” Ted Leonsis, owner of the Washington Capitals, Wizards and Mystics, told ESPN in May. “Do they have any control? Any role? No, they're passive investors. They'll put their name on a website somewhere or something and be able to tell people they own a piece of an NFL team.”
Private equity firms, tasked with finding investment vehicles to generate returns on their assets under management, may be better suited to minority ownership.
