The NFL hosted private equity executives at the league’s Park Ave. headquarters Thursday, as the world’s richest sports league moves to open its doors to institutional investors.
Seven firms were invited to present, with four separate meetings on the docket, according to multiple sources who were granted anonymity because the matter is private. Arctos Partners, Ares Management and Sixth Street each had individual sessions with NFL management and representatives from PJT Partners, which the league hired to assist the process. The three PE firms all currently have extensive holdings in sports.
The fourth meeting was with a consortium that includes Blackstone, Carlyle, CVC and Dynasty Equity, the people said. One person compared the gathering of executives from the consortium, which represent half of the world’s six largest PE firms by assets under management, akin to a superhero meetup in The Avengers.
NFL representatives in the room included commissioner Roger Goodell, finance executive Joe Siclare, CFO Christine Dorfler, and league lawyers Jeffrey Pash and Jay Bauman.
A special NFL committee, formed last year to examine the league’s ownership rules, tuned in via Zoom. That group includes Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, who is chairman of the NFL’s finance committee, plus Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Denver Broncos owner Greg Penner.
On Thursday, Sportico broke the news that Arctos and the consortium had meetings but was not able to confirm the Ares and Sixth Street meetings until today.
The NFL and the private equity firms present declined to comment on the meetings.
Private equity firms that previously had conversations with the NFL but were not granted meetings Thursday included Apollo, Dyal Capital Partners and RedBird Capital Partners. RedBird faced a potential conflict, as it is part of Skydance Media’s pending purchase of Paramount, which owns NFL broadcaster CBS. One of the deciding factors for admission: committed funds available today to invest in NFL teams, according to someone familiar with the league’s thinking.
The presentations covered who the firms are, what their plans are and why private equity is a good fit for the NFL. The NFL side did not provide any guidance on next steps in the process.
The NFL is the only major U.S. league that does not allow institutional investors. It has spent more than a year monitoring other leagues and their practices. Most insiders expect the world’s richest league to be significantly more conservative than its peers, which would track with its tighter ownership rules in areas like governance and team sales.
The NBA, MLB, MLS and NWSL all allow funds to hold up to 30% of a team’s equity. The NFL has been discussing the 10% range, with some owners pushing for something closer to 5%, sources said.
The average NFL team is worth $5.93 billion, according to Sportico valuations published on Tuesday. As that number continues to grow, the pool of people with the money (and interest) to buy minority stakes keeps shrinking. There are currently several large minority stakes on the market yet to trade.
Most people around the league consider it a foregone conclusion that owners will vote to allow some sort of institutional option. A handful of teams already have term sheets ready to execute should the rules allow, sources said, with others in the market discussing potential stakes with both individual and institutional backers. But the PE committee is acting deliberately as it sorts through its final rules to put to a vote of all 32 owners.
Commissioner Roger Goodell told owners to be prepared for a potential meeting Aug. 27 should a private equity vote be required. Another option is the regular fall NFL meetings, which are scheduled for Oct. 15 and 16 in Atlanta.
