NFL is sports’ most exclusive owners club. They may soon let private equity in.

Simone Del Rosario: The most exclusive club in all of sports is made up of National Football League owners. For decades, the NFL has kept a tight lid on who can call themselves a member of that club. This week, that could all change. 

The average NFL team is worth nearly $6 billion. Because of strict rules on ownership and financing, the club is limited to the wealthy among the wealthy – well, except for the packers, hey fellow owners – and skyrocketing team values have only further narrowed the list of who can afford it. 

But on Tuesday, owners are expected to vote on a proposal allowing private equity ownership. The NFL would be the last major sports league in the U.S. to open that door.

Before every private equity firm jumps at the chance to get a slice of the NFL, know that the proposal includes just a handful of handpicked firms, pre-approved by the league. 

These firms could buy as much as 10% of a team, which is far less than the 30% that other sports leagues allow. 

So what’s in it for private equity? The value of NFL teams has outpaced the stock market the past couple of decades and it has more stability than investing in the market. 

Sports teams will be a very small fraction of the funds’ holdings, but it’s an area of huge growth and still, there’s that exclusivity factor, with a limited number of teams nationwide. 

And what’s in it for the owners? A chance to free up some cash. It’s been hard to find qualified buyers for teams, and even harder to sell limited partners since they don’t get voting rights. Private equity is a way around that and could make it easier to put together future deals. 

American funds don’t need the perks as much as they need a place to park capital. And for existing owners who need to free up some liquidity, for stadium projects or to buy out other partners, they could be among the first to sign up to sell a stake.