San Francisco 49ers: Stake sale to OpenAI chair values NFL team at $9bn Sport Business The San Francisco 49ers have been valued at more than $9bn after the chairman of artificial intelligence behemoth OpenAI agreed to acquire a stake in the NFL franchise. Bret Taylor – who is also the co-founder and chief executive of fellow AI business Sierra, and formerly the board chairman of Twitter – will acquire one [...]
Private equity in NFL incredibly successful, commissioner Goodell says Sport Business Private equity sales in the NFL have been “incredibly successful”, according to the American football league’s commissioner Roger Goodell. It comes after the league voted to allow NFL franchise stakes to be sold to the sector for the first time in 2024. Those stakes are capped at 10 per cent of a franchise but are [...]
Big 12 chief: College football in London can boost sport amid private equity interest Sport Business The commissioner of the league bringing American college football to Wembley Stadium believes the inaugural 2026 match can boost its profile amid interest from private equity. The Big 12 American football league, a collegiate US conference part of the NCAA, earlier this year reviewed bids from private equity firms for stakes in the competition. RedBird [...]
Vikings, Packers, Chiefs and Jets take over London as NFL comes to town October 3, 2025 The NFL returns to London this month as the capital stages its 40th, 41st and 42nd American football matches. And NFL franchises – whether they’re playing at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium or Wembley Stadium, or not at all – are looking to capitalise on the buzz across the next three weeks. Here’s a round-up of which [...]
Private equity stakes in NFL teams could increase above 10 per cent October 2, 2025 NFL commissioner Roger Goodell failed to rule out allowing private equity giants to buy more than the current 10 per cent limit in franchises ahead of a trio of games in London. In January the Buffalo Bills (Arctos Partners) and Miami Dolphins (Ares Management) became the first NFL franchises to sell stakes to private equity [...]
Brady set for return to football field in Riyadh Season appearance September 16, 2025 NFL legend Tom Brady will return to the football field after signing a deal to appear in the 2026 edition of Riyadh Season. The seven-time Super Bowl champion and co-owner of English Championship side Birmingham City will join forces with Turki Alalshikh, digital sports platform Fanatics, OBB Media and Fox Sports to produce a flag [...]
Sky Sports expands NFL coverage with new three-year deal August 29, 2025 Sky Sports has agreed an expanded three-year deal with the NFL that will see the broadcaster show up to five live games per weekend in the UK. Sky will have first pick of games at both 6pm and 9pm on Sunday, as well as showing up to three more games from those timeslots concurrently. In [...]
Free-to-air broadcaster 5 to show NFL and Super Bowl August 28, 2025 Free-to-air broadcaster 5 has secured the rights to Sunday evening NFL matches, and will show the next Super Bowl. The new multi-year deal continues the long running theme of having elements of the NFL on free-to-air television in the United Kingdom, with the American football league also broadcasting a match on Channel 5 on the [...]
Chicago Bears set for £6.5bn valuation after NFL franchise equity deal, report August 8, 2025 NFL team the Chicago Bears could be valued at £6.5bn after two major shareholders agreed to an equity share of late investor Andrew McKenna. Former Aon director McKenna’s stake was shared between the McCaskey and Ryan families in an agreement which resulted in NFL commissioner Roger Goodell not needing to get involved in settling where [...]
NFL buys stake in Disney subsidiary ESPN in media asset swap August 6, 2025 The NFL is set to buy a minority stake in ESPN as the media giant takes control of American football’s NFL Network assets. The non-binding agreement, confirmed in the early hours of Wednesday morning, will see the NFL purchase a 10 per cent stake in the Walt Disney subsidiary and allow Disney to broadcast more [...]