Good morning. Today, we look ahead to a potentially pivotal moment in NFL history. The league will take a vote that could usher in a new era by allowing private equity in team ownership. Front Office Sports is on the ground in Minneapolis as this significant shift unfolds amidst soaring franchise values.
—Eric Fisher, Michael McCarthy, Colin Salao, and David Rumsey
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Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports
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EAGAN, Minn. — The NFL is set to make league and sports industry history Tuesday, even if the outcome has been increasingly a foregone conclusion.
The league will hold a special meeting here, where a vote is expected to formally approve the introduction of private equity in team ownership. The result of months of study and consideration, the move will make the NFL the last, but the largest and most notable, of the major U.S. sports leagues, to allow this type of outside investment.
It’s anticipated that private equity firms will be initially capped at 10% of a team’s equity—below other comparable leagues that allow up to 30%. The institutional investors will also be required to be entirely passive and not hold any voting rights with teams.
“We believe that would be something that could make sense for us in a limited fashion,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said last month regarding the introduction of private equity. “That would be something we think could complement our ownership and support our ownership policies.”
Victim of Its Own Success
Even as the NFL has taken a more measured path toward allowing private equity, the need for this vote has become increasingly urgent. The Commanders sold for $6.05 billion last year, a figure that could soon look quaintly small amid the league’s continued growth. Already, the NBA is potentially taking aim at the Commanders’ figure with the forthcoming sale of the Celtics.
Those soaring valuations have made it increasingly difficult for even the wealthiest individuals to meet traditional NFL ownership and liquidity requirements—led by the primary investor having at least 30% equity in a team purchase and a cap on ownership groups at 25 people.
Several NFL teams are expected to take immediate advantage of the new private equity provisions and close deals before the end of the year. Those individual transactions will still require vetting and approval by the league.
Heavyweight Roster
It’s also expected the NFL will disclose a list of approved private equity partners, a group that could include titans of that industry such as Arctos Partners, Ares Management, Sixth Street Partners, and a consortium of Blackstone Partners, CVC Capital Partners, Carlyle Group, and Dynasty Equity.
Many of these firms have already been highly active across many other parts of the sports industry, including buying into teams in other pro leagues, concessionaires and hospitality firms, and stadium management entities.
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ESPN content president Burke Magnus is putting his personal stamp on the network, announcing a new structure that elevates longtime executives Mike McQuade and Dave Roberts to powerful new positions.
Magnus announced Monday he was promoting McQuade to the new post of executive vice president of sports production. The 37-year ESPN veteran will be in charge of live game production as well as sport-specific studio shows such as Sunday NFL Countdown, Monday Night Countdown, and NBA Countdown. McQuade recently led ESPN’s news-making coverage of golf superstar’s Scottie Scheffler’s pre-dawn arrest during the PGA Championship and helped create the midnight SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt (above, far left), one of the network’s most popular shows.
Meanwhile, Roberts will transition away from NBA and WNBA coverage to focus solely on non-sports-specific studio shows as executive vice president and executive editor of sports news and entertainment. They include the network’s long-running SportsCenter, along with Stephen A. Smith’s First Take, Mike Greenberg’s Get Up, The Pat McAfee Show, Around the Horn, and Pardon the Interruption. Some of the duties picked up by McQuade and Roberts were previously handled by departed executive vice president Norby Williamson, who was pushed out of ESPN in April amid a “disconnect” with Magnus after nearly 40 years at the network.
About five or six veteran executives were laid off as part of the shuffle, while the overall headcount will remain roughly the same, say sources. On-air NFL talents Samantha Ponder and Robert Griffin III were previously dropped in a cost-cutting move. Mike Greenberg was named to succeed Ponder on Monday Night Countdown, while new hire Jason Kelce replaced RGIII on the show.
In an interview with Front Office Sports, Magnus said his goal was to draw a clear line between game production and studio programming. Under Roberts’s leadership, ESPN’s weekday studio shows such as First Take have pummeled their FS1 competitors like Skip Bayless’s Undisputed in the TV ratings, leading Fox to dump Bayless and retool its entire programming lineup. Magnus is excited about Roberts bringing his hot streak to the flagship SportsCenter. Meanwhile, McQuade, a veteran of golf, NHL, tennis, and boxing coverage, will lead live event production, where he’s earned respect from the front-line employees in the truck.
“As we went through the process, Mike continued to distinguish himself in every conversation with me and with others about his vision for how to do that,” says Magnus. “Mike is a longtime ESPN guy so he knows the culture of our company, he knows how the place works. Quietly, he’s extremely effective. Just a results-driven executive. Doesn’t bring a lot of drama with him. Just gets things done—and gets them done at an extremely high level. He’s probably the single best live event producer that we have.”
Along with Rosalyn Durant, whose title is executive vice president of programming and acquisitions, Magnus is one of the two most powerful leaders at ESPN under chairman Jimmy Pitaro. Under the new organizational chart, he will have seven direct reports in addition to McQuade and Roberts, ultimately overseeing all content. ESPN also plans to name another senior vice president responsible for basketball, hockey, and tennis who will report to McQuade.
With ESPN finally joining the NFL’s rotation of Super Bowl broadcasters, Magnus also plans to fill an important new role as vice president of sports production for the Big Game. The network will simulcast its first Super Bowls with sister Disney network ABC after the 2026 and 2030 seasons.
The months-long process wasn’t easy. Magnus, a 28-year ESPN veteran, said he talked with nearly 75 ESPN executives and organizational experts. In a memo to staff, he noted it was hard to say goodbye to senior executives losing their jobs.
Editors’ note: For more on ESPN’s latest shake-up, read Michael McCarthy’s entire column here.
Want to hear directly from Burke Magnus about ESPN’s future? He’s one of the many luminaries joining us Sept. 10 in New York for the Tuned In sports media summit. It’s not too late to register: You can do so right here.
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Bright Path Sports Partners is the latest U.S. private equity firm betting on an English soccer club.
The Cleveland-based firm—whose mission is to infuse Native American capital into sports—closed a $154 million deal Aug. 13 to acquire 44% of Gamechanger 20 Ltd., which owns Ipswich Town FC, a Premier League club, according to Crain’s Cleveland Business. Controlling stake of the club will remain with holding firm ORG led by Ed Schwartz.
Ipswich was in League One, the third tier league of English soccer, as recently as the 2022–2023 season, but returned to the Premier League this year for the first time since 2002 after being promoted two years in a row.
When Bright Path’s investment was first announced in March, the deal was worth at most $133 million—and it was still unclear whether Ipswich was going to qualify for promotion. The team secured its promotion May 4, the final day of the Championship. It added another estimated $21 million in investment due to “overwhelming interest,” a Bright Path spokesperson tells Front Office Sports.
The additional investment came from Avenue Sports Fund, managed by former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry, and VSV ITFC owned by the Viola family, owners of the Florida Panthers.
Risky Business
While the promotion to the Premier League is celebratory for the team, the risk of relegation back to the Championship is on the table this year. The team has started the season 0–2, though the losses were to powerhouses Manchester City and Liverpool.
A team’s ability to stay in the Premier League can make or break its financial standing. In 2022–2023, the average revenue for a Premier League team excluding the “big six” clubs was $243 million, compared to just $41 million for Championship clubs, according to Deloitte.
But Bright Path’s spokesperson tells FOS that the investment was “untethered” to which division the team was competing in, and stressed that the investment was for the “long term.”
“It’s definitely something you take into consideration as part of your diligence,” Bright Path managing partner Phillip Ciano told Crain. “But investing in sports is inherently risky, like every investment.”
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UConn is in talks with the Big 12 about a move to the conference, promising bigger spending on football if it makes the switch. Front Office Sports reporter Amanda Christovich joins to explain the proposal and what it’s going to take.
Plus, FOS reporter Colin Salao explains the implications of Cooper Flagg aligning with New Balance before his first college game. Also, Florida Citrus Sports CEO Steve Hogan, who oversaw the viral Pop-Tarts Bowl, joins to discuss how the expanded College Football Playoff will impact bowl season.
Watch, listen, and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.
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“It’s gonna be a busy week.”
—ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter (above), on the long list of decisions facing team owners and front offices before the regular season kicks off Sept. 5, from the vote on private equity to contract disputes and final roster cuts. “In the last few years, the league has done a great job of clearing the docket, and letting everybody catch their breath on Labor Day before the season and the marathon begins,” Schefter said on The Pat McAfee Show. “But I think there’s just too much pending business right now.”
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How soon do you think a majority of NFL teams will have private equity in their ownership groups?
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Monday’s result: Only 18% of respondents said they have paid $23 for a cocktail at a sporting event.
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