The NFL teams have touched the skies when it comes to their evaluation. Even the least valued team in the NFL (Cincinnati Bengals) is worth $4 billion as of now, so it is about time that the league addresses private equity as the way forward. However, former Oakland Raiders CEO Amy Trask recently addressed on ‘What The Football’ via The Rich Eisen Show that discussions about this initiative are nothing new; they have been ongoing for decades.
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Trask emphasized that the league is now steering towards the era of private equity in the NFL, and we may finally be entering an era where this becomes a reality.
“What a lot of people don’t realize is that allowing private equity or institutional ownership has been a discussion in those league meetings for decades,” she said. “We were discussing that when I was still in the league nothing came to pass. I believe something will come to pass now.”
Currently, the NFL teams are primarily owned by high-net-worth individuals, assisted by a group of minority owners. But with projects crossing the billion-dollar mark and teams growing at exponential rates, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for the owners to take control of all the financials.
Adding on to Amy’s point, Mike Tirico, NBC Sports Host and Announcer claimed that valuation is the reason for it all.
“The valuations of these teams are getting so large and so big that to do these projects, we have teams that are less likely to get a city to sign off on all the improvements for a stadium or the valuation or the amount of money that’s just being transacted,” Tirico added.
A more recent example of it was when Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt failed to secure approval for $800 million in stadium renovations after getting rejected by Missouri voters. The tides, however, might be changing, with even Roger Goodell recently expressing his views.
Roger Goodell Feels Optimistic About Private Equity Investments in the NFL
The NFL landscape isn’t yet open for institutional investors, but including them would be a game-changer for the teams as it would become easier for them to sign off on massive projects.
Although there hasn’t been a nod from the NFL owners on allowing private equity firms to invest in the franchises, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell feels optimistic about how the league is moving towards it.
In a recent press conference, Goodell expressed how the committee has shown interest in including private firms, but they are still “looking at ownership policies more broadly.”
Goodell’s admission is proof that the NFL is taking small steps toward a new and inevitable future of allowing private equity firms into NFL ownership.
