Super Bowl Winning Team Head Coach and MVP Press Conference

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Getty Images)

Private equity is eating sports

Private equity firms may soon own your favorite football franchise.

Jack Raines

4/22/24 9:14AM

If you think private equity is eating everything, you're right.

Thursday, the Financial Times reported that private equity firms have been preparing funds to invest exclusively in the NFL. This marks a huge shift for the NFL, as it’s the only major American sports league without institutional investors.

Pitchbook published an excellent report in January breaking down private equity ownership stakes in the NBA, MLB, MLS, and NHL, showing that 31 teams across the four leagues have some level of private equity ownership.

Why are private equity firms interested in owning NFL teams? Because they are lucrative businesses, and team valuations have been soaring thanks to the league’s latest media rights contract.

Unlike other professional sports, such as baseball, where local media deals control the distribution of some games, all NFL games are packaged into league-wide deals with an equal revenue-sharing agreement between clubs.

In 2021, the NFL signed an 11-year, $110B contract that would begin in the 2023 season, and last season, each team took home roughly $400M from the league’s media and sponsorship deals.

Last year, Apollo Global Management cofounder Josh Harris bought the Washington Commanders for $6.05B last year, the highest price ever paid for any professional team in any league.

Rich, stable cash flows make NFL teams prized assets, but soaring valuations have reduced the number of qualified individuals that could afford a stake. Private equity firms, however, have billions of dollars to deploy, making them prime candidates to invest.

According to the Financial Times, the NFL is asking firms to create "American football-only funds" that wouldn't be able to invest in other sports leagues.

Max Knoblauch10/24/25

Premium seats help push airlines higher following third-quarter results

Shares of American Airlines are climbing toward the carrier’s best trading day since August 12, when ultra-budget rival Spirit issued its initial warning about its ability to survive. American’s shares are up more than 7% on Friday afternoon.

Investors’ optimism comes a day after American posted a better-than-expected full-year earnings forecast. In a call with investors, American said that it’s ramping up its premium cabin offerings.

“Our ability to grow capacity in premium markets will be further supported as we take delivery of new aircraft and reconfigure our existing fleet. These efforts will allow us to grow our premium seats at nearly two times the rate of main cabin seats,” CEO Robert Isom said. American CFO Devin May said that nose-to-tail retrofits of certain wide-body jets will bump the number of premium seats available on those planes by 25%.

Extra legroom has been a boon for major carriers, particularly this quarter. Delta Air Lines said its premium product revenue grew 9% in Q3, compared to a 4% drop in economy seat revenue. Similarly, United Airlines said its premium revenue grew 6%, outpacing economy. Shares of both airlines were up more than 3% on Friday.

Carriers with less exposure to first- and business-class tickets like Southwest Airlines and JetBlue didn’t see the same amount of momentum on the day.