Sport & Story Daily August 20, 2024

Private Equity Talk

August 20, 2024

NFL ‘holds talks’ with Arctos, Ares and Sixth Street over private equity investment
Private equity firms Arctos Partners, Ares Management and Sixth Street have reportedly held talks with the NFL as competition moves close to opening the door to institutional investors. The NFL plans to limit the team state to 10%, though some owners are pushing for closer to 5%.
SportsPro Media says, “The NFL remains the only major US sports league that does not allow institutional investors. However, rising franchise valuations has meant the pool of people with the money to buy minority stakes in NFL teams is shrinking, prompting owners to push for a change. Since then, the NFL has been monitoring other domestic competitions who have gone down the private equity route.”
^{SportsPro Media}

WNBA names Delta official airline partner in multiyear deal
The WNBA and Delta Air Lines have agreed to a multiyear partnership to make Delta the official airline partner of the league. It adds to the existing WNBA charter program relationship and is part of the airline’s ongoing focus on women’s athletics.
^{Sports Business Journal}

Bill Simmons Thinks Jeff Bezos Wants to Buy Celtics
Bill Simmons on The Bill Simmons Podcast said that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos could be interested in buying the Boston Celtics. This comes one year after Bezos sparked an interest in buying the Washington Commanders. Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck and his partners put the team up for sale weeks after they won their league-record 18th championship. Grousbeck bought the team for $360 million in 2002.
^{Front Office Sports}

Peyton Manning: ‘ManningCast’ Will Be Better With Belichick
Payton Manning has an upcoming season of ManningCast on ESPN. Manning will bring along his brother Eli and former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.
“Bill Belichick is going to be a permanent guest in the first half, and he’s going to fit in great because he doesn’t like Eli,” Manning told Smith in jest. “Bill and I get to gang up and make fun of Eli the whole time.”
^Sportico

Sources: Ariel Helwani Close to New Deal with Yahoo Sports
Ariel Helwani announced to his followers on X that he decided to move on from Vox Media and Spotify at the conclusion of his three-year deals with both companies. Helwani was more recognized for his reporting and hosting duties for the MMA.
^{Front Office Sports}

Colt McCoy announces retirement from NFL, move to college football broadcasting for NBC
Quarterback Colt McCoy is retiring after 12 NFL seasons and 14 years in the league overall. McCoy will begin his move into television by joining the NBS Sports Big Ten coverage. He will be a game analyst and contribute to NBC’s Big Ten College Countdown.
^{Yahoo Sports}

Premier League Season Opens With 45% Of Teams Owned By Americans
There are nine American ownership groups of Premier League teams. The Glazer family, Shahid Khan, ORG, Bright Path Sports Partners and Avenue Sports are some of those owners. Malcolm Glazer had a leveraged buyout in 2005 that valued Man United at $1.4 billion.
^Sportico

Houston hires New Mexico's Eddie Nunez as new AD
Eddie Nunez was previously the athletic director at the University of New Mexico for seven years. Nunez is now the new athletic director for the University of Houston. He signed a five-year deal to be the 14th AD of the sports department.
^{Sports Business Journal}

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