Business
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

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.

More Business

See all Business
Hyunsoo Rim
big red button
5/22/26
Kraft Heinz is bringing back the glass ketchup bottle as it leans on sauces for growth

The Pittsburgh-born sauce giant is turning 157 this year.

Oversize Heinz ketchup bottle displayed at Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh
Millie Giles
BED, BREAKFAST, AND BEYOND
5/22/26
Airbnb is expanding its hotel offerings and adding car rentals to its app

As cities crack down on listings, the homestay platform is attempting to become an “everything app” for travel.

View of man talking with couple in car
Millie Giles
BATTLE OF THE BRANDS
5/20/26
Which companies have the best and worst reputations, according to Americans?

The 2026 Axios Harris Poll 100 reputation ranking suggests the US prefers Big Tech to Big Media.

Handshake
Max Knoblauch
5/19/26
Spotify expands its anti-AI verified badges to podcasts

Spotify introduced verified badges for musician profiles in late April.

Spotify Hosts a "Now Playing" Creator Day at its Los Angeles Campus
business
Tom Jones

Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind’s CEO and founder, was also an early Anthropic investor

A chess prodigy and an actual a knight of the realm in the UK, it’s perhaps no surprise that Demis Hassabis has made some strategic moves about his exposure to AI upside. According to people familiar with the matter, the influential AI architect became an angel investor in Anthropic, currently behind many of the leading AI models, per Arena AI leaderboards.

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

Latest Stories

Sherwood Media, LLC and Chartr Limited produce fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and are fully owned subsidiaries of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, Robinhood Money, LLC, Robinhood U.K. Ltd, Robinhood Derivatives, LLC, Robinhood Gold, LLC, Robinhood Asset Management, LLC, Robinhood Credit, Inc., Robinhood Ventures DE, LLC and, where applicable, its managed investment vehicles.
©2026 Sherwood Media, LLC