The National Football League has informed owners and investment firms that it intends to take a percentage of private equity profits on any future sales of ownership stakes, according to people familiar with the matter.
NFL owners voted Tuesday to allow private equity firms to take a maximum 10% stake in teams.
The league has never allowed private equity investment before. Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League already allow up to 30% of teams to be owned by investment firms, though the cap for individual funds is between 15% and 20%.
No other league takes a percentage of the so-called carry — the percentage of a fund’s investment profits that managers typically receive as compensation — for all private equity firms. It was unclear heading into the owners’ meeting if the NFL plan would apply to all or only some firms, or what percentage of the profits the league wanted to take.
The NFL …