New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers owners pursue minority stake sales
- Agastya Jain
- Mar 10
- 8 min read
By: Agastya Jain
3/10/2025
Deal Overview:
Target Companies: New York Giants & San Francisco 49ers
Potential Investors: Arctos Partners, Ares Management, Sixth Street Partners, Dynasty Equity, Blackstone, Carlyle Group, and CVC Capital Partners
Sector: Media & Entertainment
Subsector: Sports
Investment Structure: Minority stake sale
Announcement Date: February, 2025
Firm Overview:
New York Giants (Target): Privately owned in an even partnership between Mara and Tisch families, the New York Giants are a professional football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey. They currently play their games at MetLife Stadium, sharing the venue with the New York Jets. Established in 1925, the team is one of the oldest and most successful franchises in the league, with 4 Super Bowl championships to their name. With their large market presence and history of success, Forbes estimates their primate market value at $7.3BN— 4th highest in the NFL and 7th amongst all global sports franchises.
San Francisco 49ers (Target): Privately owned by the York family (90%+ ownership stake), the San Francisco 49ers are a professional football team based in Santa Clara, California. They currently play their games at Levi’s Stadium. Since joining the NFL in 1949, the team has built a legacy of success, winning 5 Super Bowls. Similar to the Giants, the 49ers’ strong market presence and historical success has led to their Forbes estimated private market value to be $6.8BN— 6th highest in the NFL.
Potential Investors: Among the four major North American sports leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL), the NFL was the last to permit private equity investment, approving minority stake investments in August of 2024. Known for its traditionally restrictive ownership structure (see “Sector & Deal-Relevant Trends”), the league limited eligible private equity investors to firms with prior experience in sports franchise ownership and a commitment to its long-term vision. With a 10% cap on ownership stakes, firms like Arctos Partners and Ares Management quickly entered the market, each maximizing their allowed stake by investing in the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins, respectively. Given the strong growth trajectory and appeal of NFL franchise valuations, the remaining approved investors are expected to follow suit.
Sector & Deal-Relevant Trends:
Rapidly Growing Team Valuations Pushes NFL to Amend Ownership Structure: Since the turn of the 21st century, sports franchise valuations have significantly outperformed the general market. Over the past decade, the average return across the sports ecosystem has been 430%, compared to the 192% return of the S&P 500. The NFL has been at the forefront of this growth, with franchise values increasing at a 12% CAGR since 2001. From 2018 to 2024, the average NFL team valuation more than doubled, rising from $2.36bn to $5.69bn.
The latest NFL acquisition exemplifies this trend—Josh Harris purchased the Washington Commanders for $6.05bn in 2023, and within a year, the team’s estimated value rose to $6.3bn . Even with a personal net worth of $11.7bn, Harris had to assemble a group of 20+ limited partners to complete the purchase. This underscores a broader issue: the NFL’s traditional ownership model required the lead investor to personally contribute at least 30% of the acquisition price. Given that even the lowest-valued franchise, the Cincinnati Bengals, is now worth $5.25bn(a sharp increase from $3.5bn in 2023), a lead investor in a new acquisition would need to allocate at least $1.58bn—a significant hurdle that has made it increasingly difficult to find individuals capable of purchasing majority stakes. As a result, the liquidity and exit options for team owners have become more limited, ultimately pressuring the league to adjust its policies.
In response, the NFL has finally amended its ownership rules to allow private equity investment in minority stakes, providing both liquidity for owners and new growth opportunities through increased institutional demand. However, compared to other leagues, the NFL remains highly restrictive in its private equity policies. Only pre-approved firms can invest, with funds permitted to acquire between 3% and 10% of a franchise. These investments are strictly passive, with no voting rights, and funds must hold their stakes for a minimum of six years, aligning with typical private equity investment timelines. Diversification is also limited—funds can invest in up to six teams, but no more than 20% of their capital can be allocated to a single franchise. Additionally, the controlling owner must maintain a 30% stake, and no team can have more than 25 total owners, including the controlling owner, limited partners, and private equity investors.
While these new policies provide team owners with greater liquidity and private equity firms with access to a high-growth asset class, the NFL’s primary benefit is an influx of institutional capital. As stadium infrastructure costs continue to rise, with more teams developing mixed-use districts around their venues, additional financial resources are crucial. Given that many team owners have limited liquid capital bases, private equity investment will provide a much-needed capital injection, supporting long-term league-wide expansion and modernization.
Sports Becomes an Increasingly Attractive Asset Class for Investors: The rapid growth of NFL team valuations has made franchise ownership a compelling investment opportunity. A look at the last 10 NFL team sales provides further historical and comparative context—7 out of those 10 transactions have outperformed the S&P 500 in terms of percentage gains since their respective sales. This highlights the high return on investment potential for private equity firms interested in acquiring stakes in NFL franchises.
Beyond high returns, NFL team ownership offers a strong diversification strategy. With team valuations having little correlation to public markets, institutional investors can hedge market-dependent investments by holding minority stakes in NFL franchises. Additionally, NFL investments provide a viable passive opportunity, particularly for funds that prefer not to engage in a buy-and-build strategy.
Multiple expansion has also been a major driver of NFL investment returns. This is evident in the 11.1x EV/Sales multiple paid for the Washington Commanders, a sharp increase compared to the 9.4x, 5.7x, and 5.6x multiples seen in the three previous team sales. As valuation multiples continue to expand, private equity firms—despite their lack of operational control—can capitalize on further appreciation in franchise values, enhancing their long-term return potential.
Media Rights Represent a Fundamental Valuation Driver: While the scarcity of NFL franchises and increasing demand contribute to valuation growth, media rights revenue remains a core driver of franchise appreciation. The NFL dominates the U.S. media rights market, and by 2025, the league is projected to capture ~$0.40 of every premium sports media rights dollar earned in the country.
The importance of the NFL in media consumption is clear—in a survey, 69% of Americans identified the league as "essential content”. Media corporations share this sentiment, as evidenced by the NFL's 11-year, $110bn media rights deal signed in 2021, reflecting a 70% average annual value (AAV) increase over the previous agreement. These long-term contracts provide revenue stability and visibility, with media rights revenue typically comprising a significant share of team earnings.
While future media rights growth is not guaranteed, the entry of big tech companies like Netflix and Amazon into the sports broadcasting space is increasing competition and demand. This trend offers private equity investors downside protection, as additional bidders for NFL content could further drive media rights revenue expansion, reinforcing the league's long-term valuation trajectory.
Projections, Opportunities, and Risks:
Large Market Teams Represent a High-Growth Potential and Risk-Averse investment: In the sports landscape, a significant disparity exists between large-market and small-market teams. Large-market teams are based in major metropolitan areas such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Dallas, while small-market teams come from less populated regions like Green Bay, Jacksonville, Buffalo, and Nashville. Typically, large-market teams serve as the primary revenue drivers of the NFL and contribute the most to the league’s revenue-sharing model. They also tend to have the highest operating income, as seen in the 2023-2024 NFL season, where the Dallas Cowboys ($564mm), Los Angeles Rams ($286mm), and New England Patriots ($261mm) far exceeded the league’s median operating income of $118mm. Operational efficiency follows suit, with the Cowboys, Rams, and Patriots achieving operating margins of 47.0%, 37.8%, and 36.7%, respectively—well above the league median of 20.3%. This underscores how large-market teams not only generate the most revenue but also possess greater operating leverage and pricing power, making them attractive from an investment standpoint.
Beyond just market size, other factors such as stadium ownership, brand value, and business strategy play a crucial role in driving revenue and valuation disparities among teams. Large-market franchises in affluent areas, like the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers, command higher sponsorship deals, luxury suite sales, and merchandise revenue, whereas smaller-market teams have more limited local revenue opportunities. To counterbalance this, the NFL mandates that all media rights revenue be evenly distributed and requires home teams to share 34% of gate receipts with away teams. However, despite these measures, large-market teams continue to hold a financial advantage, which extends to investment opportunities. Private equity firms are more inclined to invest in these large-market teams due to their stronger revenue growth and operational efficiency, which is important since private equity investors lack the operational control to improve financials. Conversely, the rapid appreciation of large-market team valuations has also enabled owners to liquidate their stakes and capitalize on significant returns from their investments. This is evident within the Giants and 49ers valuations which have grown 69.8% and 78.9%, respectively, from 2020-2024, providing immense ROI for the ownership groups.
The Giants and 49ers Both Display Idiosyncratic Valuation Growth Potential: Although NFL valuation growth is largely correlated across the league, certain teams can significantly enhance their value through secular factors independent of overall league trends. When assessing team valuation attributions across four key categories—sport, market, stadium, and brand—the league-wide median distributions stand at 71.5%, 12.6%, 9.9%, and 5.4%, respectively. However, some franchises deviate from this norm, leveraging external factors to build sustainable, independent value. For instance, the New York Giants’ valuation attributions are 62.1% from sport, 15.5% from market, 15.2% from stadium, and 7.3% from brand. Similarly, the San Francisco 49ers exhibit an even more pronounced shift, with their valuation driven 55.0% by sport, 17.1% by market, 20.8% by stadium, and 7.0% by brand. Both teams are notably underweight in "sport" yet overweight in market, stadium, and brand—indicating a reduced reliance on league-wide growth to drive value. Instead, their strong valuations stem from their large-market presence, where expansive fan bases, premium branding, and superior stadium infrastructure provide a distinct financial advantage. For this instance, however, it's important to note that the owners of the Giants and 49ers are not the owners of their respective stadium infrastructure, unlike the Miami Dolphins deal where Ares acquired a stake in the Hard Rock Stadium and the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix in addition to the team.
This valuation structure highlights how large-market teams can insulate themselves from league-wide fluctuations. While many smaller-market franchises depend on the NFL’s revenue-sharing model and the collective financial success of the league, teams like the Giants and 49ers are positioned to sustain and grow their valuations through secular factors. Their ability to generate value beyond the field makes them especially attractive to investors and private equity firms seeking long-term stability and growth in the sports sector.
"This won't change a thing. This is 10 percent of a team. All it is is a silent position that would allow access to capital for those teams that wish to offer 10 percent of their team. They will not be in any kind of decision-making influence in any way. It was very important when we began this that we strengthen the ownership. … We think the single-owner structure has been very valuable ... and this does not impact that at all."
- Roger Goodell, Commissioner, NFL
The bottom line...
The potential minority stake sales of the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers represents a landmark opportunity in the evolving landscape of NFL ownership. With the league's recent approval of private equity investments, institutional investors are eager to gain exposure to high-growth, blue-chip sports assets. Both the Giants and 49ers stand out as premier franchises with strong market presence, valuable brand equity, and independent valuation growth drivers beyond league-wide trends. Their ability to leverage expansive fan bases, premium sponsorship deals, and modern stadium infrastructure positions them as attractive investment targets, despite the NFL’s stringent ownership restrictions. As franchise values continue to surge, this deal reflects a broader trend of private equity’s increasing role in the sports sector, providing owners with liquidity while offering investors access to a historically high-performing asset class.
