NFL Valuations Are In: Cha-Ching

Sport & Story Daily August 14, 2025: Sportico writes, “The early returns are in, and the move looks like a gold mine for team owners. The average team is now worth $7.13 billion.”

Sportico writes, “The early returns are in, and the move looks like a gold mine for team owners. The average team is now worth $7.13 billion”

August 14, 2025

ILLUSTRATION BY LORENZO GORDON; PHOTOS BY GETTY IMAGES

NFL Team Values 2025: Cowboys Rule as 3 Clubs Top $10 Billion
Sportico’s Kurt Badenhausen writes, “NFL owners debated for several years about opening their league to institutional investors, and if they did, what it might mean for franchise values. The pro-PE crowd finally got its way 12 months ago, albeit with more restrictions than the other major U.S. leagues. The early returns are in, and the move looks like a gold mine for team owners. The average team is now worth $7.13 billion…”
Sports Business Journal

Photo by Jaylynn Nash/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images; Illustration by Sportico

Tom Dundon to Buy Portland Trail Blazers From Paul Allen’s Estate
Sportico’s Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams report: “Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon has reached a tentative agreement to buy the Portland Trail Blazers from Paul Allen’s estate, according to people familiar with the details.

“Others in the group include Blue Owl Capital co-president Marc Zahr and Portland-based Sheel Tyle, co-CEO of Collective Global, according to the people, who were granted anonymity because the details were private. The new group intends to keep the team in Portland, the people said.”
Sportico

In Stunning Turn, Pohlad Family No Longer Selling the Minnesota Twins
"Over the past several months, we explored a wide range of potential investment and ownership opportunities. Our focus throughout has been on what's best for the long-term future of the Twins. We have been open to all possibilities," a letter from the family reads. "After a detailed and robust process, our family will remain the principal owner of the Minnesota Twins."

Per SI, the letter says the Pohlads have found "two significant limited partnership groups,” though the Twins haven't yet identified them.
Sports Illustrated

Relocation Fee to WNBA Could Sway Sun Sale
FOS’ Annie Costabile writes, “In July, Steve Pagliuca struck a deal with the Mohegan Tribe to buy the Connecticut Sun for $325 million. The deal has stalled as WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert never presented it to the league’s board of governors, causing the exclusivity window the tribe granted Pagliuca to expire. Now former Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry has matched Pagliuca’s $325 million offer for the team, CT Insider reported Wednesday. 

“Pagliuca wants to move the team to Boston, while Lasry wants to keep the team slightly closer in Hartford, Connecticut. It might cost them both more than $325 million to do so. (The WNBA also reportedly does not want the Sun playing in Hartford.)

“Multiple sources with direct knowledge of the sale told Front Office Sports a possible relocation fee—paid to the league on top of the sale price paid to the tribe—could end up determining the team’s fate.”
Front Office Sports

Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

CBS Banking on Potential Record-Setting Chiefs-Cowboys Game
FOS’ Michael McCarthy writes, “Take the two biggest television draws in the NFL. Schedule their game on Thanksgiving Day. Add in millions of viewers, relaxed after substantial servings of turkey. Put them all together, and you could be looking at the most-watched regular-season telecast in the NFL’s 104-year history. That was the word from CBS Sports president and chief executive officer David Berson when talking about his network’s Chiefs at Cowboys Thanksgiving telecast during an NFL preview event on Tuesday.”
Front Office Sports

The Data Wars Hold a Lesson for ESPN’s New NFL Partnership
Sportico’s Eben Novy-Williams writes, “The recent tie-up between the NFL and ESPN, in which the league took a 10% stake in the sports media giant, contains a big unanswerable question: Will it ensure the network keeps its Monday Night Football rights for the foreseeable future? Many believe the answer is yes. But the NFL was in a similar position in 2021, in talks to renew a prominent commercial deal with a partner in which it also held an ownership stake, and the league ultimately selected a higher bid from the company’s biggest competitor.”
Sportico

New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District

Hawaii Officials Give Go-Ahead for Aloha Stadium Reconstruction
The Aloha Stadium Authority on Wednesday voted to “allow the interim stadium manager to execute agreements with Aloha Halawa District Partners,” marking the “formal start of the public-private project.” The state has allocated $400M with the “developer responsible for remaining costs.”
KHON2 via Sports Business Journal

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Kansas Receives $300M Gift to Be Used for More Stadium Renovations, New Revenue Stream
The Univ. of Kansas athletic department has “received a gift” of $300M from donor David Booth in what the department calls “one of the biggest single donations in the history of college sports,” according to Henry Greenstein of the LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD. The donation includes $75M “to help jump-start the upcoming second phase” of KU’s ongoing transformation of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium and construction of the surrounding Gateway District.
Lawrence Journal-World via Sports Business Journal

The Southern Conference Approves Tennessee Tech Membership
The Southern Conference announced today that Tennessee Tech University will become a member effective July 1, 2026, and will begin competition for the 2026-27 academic year. 

"Tennessee Tech’s addition reaffirms that ‘It’s All Here’ in the Southern Conference — the premier FCS athletics experience in the South,” said Southern Conference Commissioner Dr. Michael Cross. “Tech strengthens our geographic footprint, reinforces our Southern identity, and enters at a time of tremendous regional growth.
AP News

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