The NFL continues to push toward allowing private equity investments in teams. It apparently will start with a toe in the water. Eventually, the whole foot could be submerged.
Asked about the subject during a Thursday interview on CNBC, Goodell gave a clear hint that it’s coming.
“Well, we’ve been very deliberate on this just looking at our ownership policies in general and as sports evolve, we want to make sure that our policies reflect that,” Goodell told CNBC. “We created a committee last September that looked at all aspects of our policies including debt and including private equity. We’ve had a tremendous amount of interest and we believe that this could make sense for us in a limited fashion, probably no more than 10 percent of a team. But that would be something that we think could complement our ownership and support our ownership policies. So we think we we’re moving in a very positive direction and hopefully, you’ll have something by the end of the year.”
Julia Boorstin of CNBC reminded Goodell that other leagues allow up to 30 percent private equity investment.
“We’re not other leagues, Julia,” Goodell said. “So I think we’re going to do what’s right for the National Football League, and we feel that — we like our ownership policies. We think this is a complement, but this is also something that’s the initial cap. Could we raise it at some point in time? Of course.”
They might need to, frankly, if teams eventually have to come up with more than $440 million each to satisfy the Sunday Ticket judgment, if the current $4.7 billion verdict is officially entered as a final judgment and automatically tripled to $14 billion.