As NFL franchise values keep going up and up (and up), the NFL needs to relax its otherwise rigid rules regarding ownership.
The problem is that, with teams worth more and more (and more) money, it’s getting harder and harder (and harder) to find people with the money to afford teams, which in turn keeps the value of all franchise equity as high as it can be.
The first step toward potentially bigger changes to the ownership rules is to allow private equity firms to make limited investments in teams.
Via Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal, the special committee the NFL has formed is working to have a proposal ready for a vote at the annual league meetings, which start in nine days.
Per Fischer, it’s still fluid. The proposal “likely” will entail having a handful of private equity firms preapproved by the league for investing in teams. There likely will be limits regarding the amount of equity any firm can hold in a given team, and limits as to the number of teams in which any one firm can hold equity.
That last part implies that one firm will be allowed to own equity in multiple teams. Which is an odd concept. In theory, the same firm could own some of the Steelers, and some of the Ravens.
Whatever happens, it’s likely the first step in a broader overhaul of ownership. The goal seems to be to retain the current structure and system, in which multi-billion-dollar businesses are run like mom-and-pop stores. At some point, the better approach could be to make all teams publicly-owned corporations — with real stock that has real value beyond being a piece of framable memorabilia.