When the NFL adopted a revolutionary new private-equity rule last month, it authorized individual funds to hold up to 10 percent of up to six teams.
One group of funds can hold interest in more than that.
According to Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal, the consortium of funds involving Hall of Fame running back Curtis Martin has been approved to invest in up to TWELVE teams.
That group of funds includes Blackstone, Carlyle, CVC, Dynasty Equity, and Ludis.
The other approved funds (Arctos Partners, Ares Management, and Sixth Street) are limited to six teams each.
The ability of the fund consortium, which per Fischer is sometimes referenced to as “The Avengers,” is significant. If the group exercises the full extent of its ability to buy up to 10 percent of 12 teams, it will collectively own, as a practical matter, 1.2 teams.
Thus, while as to each team the group will hold a minority position, it collectively will have more NFL team equity than any majority owner in the entire league.
And with that distinction will come, as a practical matter, plenty of influence over NFL business.
