Premier League soccer club Tottenham Hotspur keeps saying it’s not for sale, but suitors keep circling—and industry sources say it’s only a matter of time before a deal gets done.

Spurs majority owner ENIC Sports & Development, which is controlled by the Lewis family trust, has remained steadfast that the club is not on the market. Three “expressions of interest” (which come before formal takeover offers) have been rejected since September—from PCP International Finance, Firehawk Holdings, and a group led by tech entrepreneur Brooklyn Earick.

A Spurs spokesperson told Front Office Sports on Tuesday that “we can say on the record the club is not for sale, as we have repeatedly over the last few months.”

But sources aren’t buying that Spurs cannot be bought.

“Everyone knows damn well they’re for sale,” one European soccer club owner tells FOS.

“Surely she doth protest too much,” says another European soccer club owner, referencing the line from Hamlet.

Last month, Spurs received a nearly $134 million (£100 million) capital infusion from its existing owner, money meant to boost spending power on players, facilities, and more. That investment reflects the “Lewis family’s ongoing commitment to the Club and its future,” the club said in a statement at the time.

Sources speculate that Spurs could simply be waiting for a bid that blows them away. The club has an estimated valuation of $3.3 billion, according to Forbes. The Earick group reportedly made an expression of interest valued at $5.9 billion (£4.5 billion). Spurs, a historically successful English soccer club that has existed since 1882, is currently in fifth place in the Premier League with a record of 5-3-3. Chelsea, a comparable franchise in terms of history and potential value, sold in 2022 in a deal worth up to £4.25 billion.

Although the team called Earick’s approach “unsolicited,” he made social media posts suggesting otherwise. The value of the other approaches that have been rejected were not clear. 

“If you want to maximize the number, say it’s not for sale,” one of the European club owners tells FOS.

Including the two club owners, four total sources who work in European soccer tell FOS a Spurs sale is bound to happen. Two pointed to the fact that longtime owner Joe Lewis—the 88-year-old London-born billionaire—stopped having “significant control” of the club in 2022, when it was transferred to a family trust. The following year, Lewis was charged with insider trading in the U.S., and in April 2024 he was sentenced to three years of probation for providing nonpublic stock tips about his private-equity firm’s portfolio companies to his girlfriend and private-jet pilots.

Several factors make a sale all but inevitable, sources say, including Lewis’s waning influence and the recent departure of Daniel Levy—former Spurs chairman who was one of the most influential people at Spurs for nearly 25 years. Levy and members of his family still own a stake in the club through a roughly 29% interest in ENIC, but one source says it’s common knowledge that he and the Lewis family—including Joe’s adult children, Vivienne and Charles—didn’t see eye to eye.

“I think this was a power play,” the source says. “I would imagine the kids are going to monetize and sell the club.”

Tottenham, which used to be publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange, has been private since 2012. Roughly 13% of the team is still owned by smaller minority owners, who can still trade their shares every two months on a platform called Asset Match. The U.K. City Code on Takeover and Mergers still applies to the club due to those minority shareholders, meaning any formal offer that would impact their interests must be publicly disclosed—although informal expressions of interest or exploratory talks generally do not trigger the same reporting requirements. Any deal would also be subject to Premier League approval.

The Premier League and UEFA declined to comment. The U.K.’s Independent Football Regulator, PCP International Finance, and Earick did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Firehawk Holdings could not immediately be reached.

Goldman Sachs has agreed to buy a majority stake in Excel Sports—a talent agency that represents Caitlin Clark, Derek Jeter, and Tiger Woods—in a deal valuing the business at close to $1 billion.

Goldman Sachs Alternatives and Excel Sports Management announced Tuesday that they have agreed to “form a new strategic partnership.” Specifics of the deal, which was rumored late last month, were not disclosed. But two sources familiar with the matter confirmed to Front Office Sports the valuation and that it is for a majority stake.

In Excel, Goldman picks up a New York–based company with a roster of roughly 750 clients. In addition to Clark, Jeter, and Woods, Excel represents NBA stars Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray, MLB players Kyle Schwarber and Dansby Swanson, NFL quarterback Jared Goff, and more. It also represents brands like Goodyear and Under Armour. It helps athletes negotiate contracts, secure sponsorship deals, and develop social media strategies, among other services.

Jeff Schwartz, who founded Excel Sports in 2002, said in Tuesday’s press release that Goldman Sachs is “an exceptional partner” that will “provide a powerful platform to accelerate Excel’s expansion and enhance the value we deliver to our clients worldwide.”

Los Angeles–based private-equity firm Shamrock Capital is exiting Excel Sports as part of the agreement. It invested in Excel Sports in 2020.

The agreement remains subject to closing conditions, including regulatory approval. No time frame was disclosed for when the transaction is expected to be completed.

Goldman Sachs has done work in the sports field for many years, but it “formalized” its approach in 2023 through the creation of a dedicated sports division within its investment banking platform. That division, called Sports Franchise in Investment Banking, offers wealthy clients the opportunity to invest not only in pro sports teams but also other entities in sports and entertainment. Goldman Sachs advises on everything from major pro team sales to smaller deals in the sector, with examples including its work advising the Orioles on the team’s 2024 sale and its role representing Endeavor on the blockbuster 2023 deal that united UFC and WWE under one parent.

Polymarket’s long-awaited U.S. comeback may have been delayed due to a technical issue caused by the federal government shutdown, sources tell Front Office Sports.

On Sept. 30, the crypto-based prediction-markets platform appeared primed to reenter the American market, when it self-certified sports and other event contracts with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)—a final regulatory step toward launching legally in the U.S. The government shut down the next day, Oct. 1. Under the CFTC’s shutdown plan, the “vast majority” of its operations “will cease.” 

The self-certification of sports event contracts comes as the legality of those offerings remains in question. But legal murkiness is not why Polymarket remains on the sidelines in the U.S. 

Under CFTC rules, the agency typically has one business day to object to a self-certification before a contract can go live. Because Polymarket’s filings landed the day before the shutdown, that single business day never technically occurred. The review window is effectively paused until the shutdown ends. As of Wednesday, the shutdown entered its 42nd day.

“100% yes,” one legal expert who previously worked at the CFTC told FOS when asked whether the shutdown could be why Polymarket has yet to relaunch.

“Either the shutdown is the reason, or at the very least would be an obstacle,” said another legal expert who is a former longtime CFTC attorney.

Representatives for Polymarket, including its general counsel, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

An email sent to a representative for the CFTC returned the following message: “Hello, I am in the office today, however, due to a lapse in federal government funding, the law requires that I respond only to emails that relate to emergency matters involving an imminent threat to the safety of human life or the protection of property.”

Polymarket had previously been barred from operating in the U.S. since 2022 under a settlement with the Joe Biden–era CFTC. Under that settlement, Polymarket agreed to pay a $1.4 million civil penalty and wind down the markets that did not comply with CFTC rules. At that time, it wasn’t sports event contracts that got the company in trouble; it was offerings allowing users to put money on who would win the presidential election. While Polymarket was not allowed to operate in the U.S. for years and has not yet relaunched in the U.S., users in the country have reportedly found workarounds, such as using a VPN.

After Trump’s return to office, the company spent much of this summer teasing a return to the U.S. market. Founder Shayne Coplan said July 16 that a federal probe into the company had been dropped. Less than a week later, Polymarket announced the purchase of federally regulated exchange QCX. In August, it began a marketing blitz that promised users would be able to “legally trade football” in all 50 states “this fall.” 

On Sept. 3, the CFTC announced it would not take enforcement action against QCX, which Coplan celebrated as giving the company the “green light to go live” in the U.S.

However, more than two months later—even after Polymarket secured up to $2 billion from the operator of the New York Stock Exchange—the platform’s U.S. waiting list still says it’s “coming soon.” 

The longer the wait, the more challenging, and crowded, the environment will be when Polymarket finally returns. The company has already missed out on 10 weeks of U.S. users trading on NFL games; its primary competitor, Kalshi, added touchdown props, over/unders, and more ahead of football season and sees hundreds of millions of dollars traded on sports each weekend.

Meanwhile, traditional sports betting giants DraftKings and FanDuel are preparing prediction-markets platforms of their own; together, they hold a sports betting industry market share of more than 65% and handle tens of billions of dollars of wagers each year, far surpassing volume on prediction markets, for now. Barron’s forecasts the prediction-markets sector could grow from about $1.4 billion in annual volume to more than $95 billion by 2035.

Plus, President Donald Trump’s social media platform is getting in on the game through an “exclusive” deal with Crypto.com. Other companies competing in the prediction-markets world include PrizePicks, Robinhood, Underdog, and Novig.

Polymarket appears unperturbed. The company continues to heavily market and tease its U.S. return. It remains very popular in the roughly 180 countries in which it is available. It and Kalshi are official partners of the NHL, and Google will soon start integrating Polymarket and Kalshi data.

Despite the shutdown-induced delay, Polymarket has plenty of opportunity. And the shutdown may be nearing its end, meaning Polymarket’s U.S. reentry truly could be imminent. One industry executive says the prediction-markets battle is still in its early days.

“The marathon has started,” the executive recently told FOS. “But we’re only at mile marker five.”