The NFL is moving toward a potential rule allowing private equity investment in teams. But the league won’t be getting to the finish line this week.
According to Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal, the league will ask owners to vote during this week’s quarterly meetings in Nashville on a “framework” for a rule. The actual policy would still have to be developed, and could be months away.
The discussion is scheduled for an owners-only session on Wednesday morning, the second day of the two-day event.
If the framework is approved, interested teams will start working deals, with closings coming after the final policy is in place.
The specifics still aren’t known, and there are concerns. Fischer reports, citing multiple sources, that the details are “coalescing around” permitting up to 10 percent of a team being purchased by institutional funds. A small group of pre-vetted funds will be allowed to participate.
The issue is a prime example of the collaborative and consensual antitrust violations that happen within a sports league like the NFL. In theory, any business owner should be allowed to determine the terms for transferring all or part of the owner’s business. The NFL grossly limits the discretion in the name of propping up the value of all teams — and controlling who gets admitted to the most exclusive of all country clubs.
Put simply, the ever-increasing valuation of teams is forcing the league to be innovative and creative, opting for a handful of passive and stable equity funds over seeing a drink-throwing and/or duck-stepping guy like Al Czervik become one of the only options when a cash-strapped owner needs an infusion of cash.