Nearly two-thirds of NBA teams enter the 2025–26 season with at least some connection to private-equity money, a sign of both rising valuations and institutional investors’ growing sway in professional sports.

It wasn’t that long ago that the league didn’t even have a formal pathway for PE and other institutional investors to take minority stakes in teams. But with valuations starting to soar, commissioner Adam Silver made a proposal in 2019 that would allow private-equity investors to purchase minority stakes, and that structure was formalized in January 2021.

The NBA’s PE ownership rules remain strict. A single private-equity fund is allowed to hold up to a 20% stake in as many as five teams, but they are purely financial investments—the fund is not allowed to have any governance rights, and cannot have any say in team management matters. No more than 30% of a given team, in total, can be owned by private equity. 

Dave Checketts, a veteran sports executive with long tenures running the Knicks and Jazz, previously told Front Office Sports that rising valuations will ultimately force the league to “open up” limitations on private-equity ownership. 

As the season tips off, 20 of the 30 NBA teams have some kind of PE connection, according to PitchBook, although fewer than 10 have direct private-equity investors.

“We view private equity as a constructive way to support the league’s continued growth,” an NBA spokesperson tells FOS. “Minority investments from institutional partners can help strengthen our teams and grow our game, while our ownership rules ensure that our franchises remain led by a controlling governor, accountable to the league and its communities.”

Teams With Direct PE Investment

Today, several franchises feature private-equity firms as minority owners. The most recent PE minority owner is Sixth Street, which acquired a roughly 12.5% stake in the Celtics as part of Bill Chisholm’s $6.1 billion takeover announced last spring. Sixth Street also owns a reported 20% stake in the Spurs, which it picked up in 2021.

In 2022, Dyal HomeCourt Partners—an affiliate of Blue Owl—acquired a stake of about 6% in the Hawks. Dyal also owns an undisclosed minority stake in the Timberwolves, which it acquired in 2021, and a minority stake in the Hornets, which it acquired in 2023 when Michael Jordan sold his majority stake.

Arctos Partners owns minority stakes in three teams: the Warriors, Kings, and Jazz. It bought a 5% stake in the Warriors and a 17% stake in the Kings in 2021, and the following year acquired an undisclosed stake in the Jazz. Arctos is also invested in Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, the company that owns the 76ers.

Owners With PE Backgrounds

Many NBA owners bring private-equity experience to the league, even if they’ve invested in teams in their personal capacity, not through a PE firm. Josh Harris and David Blitzer own the 76ers through their company—Harris cofounded Apollo Global Management (he stepped down in 2021), while Blitzer is still an executive at Blackstone Group.

When Joe Tsai purchased the Nets and Barclays Center in 2019, he did so with help from Blue Pool Capital, a firm he is involved with that invests across a range of strategies, including private equity. The Nets’ alternate governor, Ollie Weisberg, runs Blue Pool.

Justin Ishbia, an investor in the Suns alongside his brother and majority owner Mat Ishbia, is managing partner of Shore Capital. Tom Dundon, who just recently bought the Trail Blazers at a more than $4 billion valuation, is chairman of Dundon Capital Partners.

The Pacers, currently majority owned by Herbert Simon, will eventually be passed down to his son, Stephen Simon, cofounder of Simon Equity Partners.

The Pistons are majority owned by Tom Gores, founder of Platinum Equity, Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert has ties to Rockbridge Growth Equity, and Todd Boehly of Eldridge Industries is part of the Lakers ownership group. 

Rounding out the list of 20 teams with PE ties, Pelicans majority owner Gayle Benson founded Benson Capital Partners; Bucks co-owner Wes Edens cofounded Fortress Investment Group; Thunder co-owner Clayton Bennett is chairman of Dorchester Capital; and longtime Wizards owner Ted Leonsis is cofounder of Revolution Growth.

The PE Era Has Only Just Begun

The Bulls, Nuggets, Rockets, Grizzlies, Heat, Knicks, Magic, and Raptors have no private-equity connection, but that could change. Valuations are expected to keep climbing, thanks in part to the new $77 billion media-rights deal that only just kicked in this season. There are only so many buyers who can write the checks necessary to be part of NBA ownership groups—even those buying minority stakes.

Alex Michael, a managing director at investment and merchant bank LionTree, told FOS earlier this year that NBA teams—once a “trophy asset”—are now “compelling investment vehicles” viewed as lucrative investment opportunities for institutional investors, from private equity to sovereign wealth funds.

“Diversifying ownership and the increasing capital influx into the league reflects the NBA’s status as a stable and growing investment opportunity,” he said.

The story sounds like something out of Mad Libs: Activist investor Jana Partners is teaming up with three-time Super Bowl champion Travis Kelce and executives from Petco and analytics company J.D. Power to put Six Flags back on track.

Jana’s involvement is no joke, though. The New York–based firm intends to “engage with the [Six Flags] board of directors and management regarding opportunities to enhance shareholder value and improve the guest experience,” according to a Tuesday press release. 

That includes plans to improve marketing, modernize technology, and explore “strategic alternatives,” a person familiar with the matter tells Front Office Sports. In the corporate world, considering strategic alternatives often signals a potential sale, merger, or other restructuring.

Jana, Kelce, Petco executive chair Glenn Murphy, and J.D. Power vice chairman Dave Habiger own a combined stake of roughly 9% in Six Flags, which trades publicly under the ticker symbol FUN—something investors haven’t been having too much of in recent years.

Shares of Six Flags hit an all-time high of $57.63 in July 2024 when its $8 billion mega-merger with rival Cedar Fair was completed. Shares have plummeted by more than 57% since then.

The decline has continued despite Six Flags recently taking steps to try to turn things around, including a board refresh that included the recent departure of two board members and the appointment of Jonathan Brudnick, a partner at hedge fund Sachem Head Capital, to its board of directors.

Can Jana, in tandem with Kelce and the other executives, save Six Flags? It’s not impossible. In the past, Jana has successfully lobbied for change at Freshpet, Outback Steakhouse, and other companies. Shares of both Freshpet and Outback’s parent company, Bloomin’ Brands, rose in the wake of Jana announcing its involvement. Following the Jana announcement, shares of Six Flags jumped by 17%.

The firm is viewed as an activist with its heart in the right place, with campaigns focused on finding ways to improve companies and lift all shareholders up.

“Jana is very well respected,” says Jonathan Boyar, president of Boyar Value Group. Boyar has experience with activist campaigns of his own; earlier this year, he launched a high-profile campaign aimed at convincing James Dolan to separate the Knicks from Madison Square Garden Sports. 

“They are thoughtful investors,” Boyar says of Jana. “They’re not in it to make a quick buck. They are actually focused on driving long-term, meaningful change.”

Kelce’s involvement might be seen as a publicity stunt, but he isn’t the first athlete Jana has tapped to help with a campaign. When the firm sought change at Freshpet, it worked with former MLB Hall of Famer CC Sabathia and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Dwayne Wade. This also isn’t Kelce’s first foray into the business world. The Chiefs tight end, along with his brother, Jason Kelce, cohost their New Heights podcast and co-own Garage Beer; Kelce also cofounded a Kansas City steakhouse with teammate Patrick Mahomes and is an investor in rowing machine company Hydrow.

Kelce, thanks to his high-profile relationship with megastar Taylor Swift, could have more of an impact than both.

“It’s a brilliant move to bring in Kelce,” says Melinda Roth, a professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law. “The zillions of Swifties may move the needle just like they have started watching and caring about the NFL.”

But the business chosen is in a “tough sector,” she tells FOS, citing aging park rides and competition with other theme park operators like Disney and Universal Studios. Still, Roth adds, Six Flags is “certainly undervalued, which might make the business more attractive.”

DraftKings will spend as much as $250 million in total to buy prediction-markets platform Railbird Exchange, Front Office Sports has learned.

Under the transaction, DraftKings is paying $50 million upfront, with an additional $200 million in performance incentives, the specifics of which are not clear, according to a source familiar with the deal. Financial details were not disclosed when DraftKings announced Tuesday it was buying the upstart prediction-markets platform. 

A DraftKings spokesperson declined comment.

The deal represented the latest in a flurry of recent prediction-markets activity as the space continues to heat up. DraftKings has not committed to offering sports event contracts, which have gained notoriety but are controversial because of their similarity to sports betting. FanDuel in August reached a deal with derivatives exchange CME Group; there, the sports betting giant also chose not to commit to sports event contracts.

The entry of traditional sportsbooks into prediction markets is an acceleration for the space, which for the better part of this year has been dominated by two players, Kalshi and Polymarket, both of which recently raised money. Kalshi, which is fighting multiple court battles over its sports offerings and earlier this month raised $300 million at a $5 billion valuation, has received recent takeover interest valuing the business at more than $10 billion, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. Polymarket, meanwhile, will receive up to $2 billion from the operator of the New York Stock Exchange and is expected to relaunch in the U.S. imminently after having been previously barred from operating in the country since 2022.

Shayne Coplan, founder and CEO of Polymarket, said in a social media post Wednesday that Polymarket Clearing will be the “designated clearinghouse” for DraftKings. (A clearinghouse is a middleman entity that guarantees trades, manages risk, and ensures payments are made.)

The news comes the same day that the NHL announced multiyear deals for both Kalshi and Polymarket to be “official prediction markets partners” of the league. Under those agreements, both will receive access to proprietary NHL data and will gain the right to use NHL logos and other marks.

Not everyone was pleased with the news. NCAA SVP of external affairs Tim Buckley tells FOS that “sport integrity is paramount for the NCAA, and we are deeply concerned by unregulated and unprotected markets that pose a threat to competition integrity and student-athlete safety.”

“We will continue to analyze developments of this market and work with industry leaders to help ensure guardrails and regulations to protect NCAA competition, student-athletes, coaches, and officials,” Buckley says.