NFL Has No Plan to Follow MLB, NBA in Loosening Private Equity Rules
MLB quietly increased its PE limits this summer.
Multiple sources report that NFL team owners have no immediate intentions to increase the league's private equity ownership limit from the current 10% to a higher percentage, as announced by Major League Baseball and the NBA. In August 2024, NFL owners approved a measure allowing teams to sell up to 10% of their ownership to private equity firms.
The league had a committee to study potential changes in 2023. MLB raised its private equity ownership limit to 20% from 15% in July, while the NBA also changed its policy to allow private equity firms and their executives to invest in teams simultaneously. NFL owners, however, have expressed no urgency to raise their limit above 10% at this time, according to three sources cited in this story.
The NFL's current ownership rules require that the controlling owner hold at least 30% of the team, and the ownership group must not have more than 25 members. The league also does not allow public corporations or sovereign wealth funds to own shares in an NFL team. NFL teams, on average, are valued at approximately $9.5 billion, a substantial increase from $7.1 billion last year.
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