Apollo And Blackstone Want The NFL

Giant investment firms Blackstone and Apollo are negotiating to join an exclusive list of corporate groups allowed to invest in the NFL.

Before finalizing league approval next year, both financial companies must first secure a specific minority investment deal with a football franchise.

Team owners are favoring these new corporate partnerships as a way to inject fresh cash into their businesses without sacrificing operational control.

Elysian Park Ventures, the investment group behind the Dodgers' ownership, led the $15M round after previously investing $7M.

Tech giant Sony and several sports investment funds also joined the deal to support the rapidly growing organization.

The fresh funding follows a successful debut season that secured an ESPN broadcast deal and generated 2B global views.

The S&P 500, an index of large US stocks, rose 118% since October 2022, beating the 103% average gain for five major men's leagues.

Hockey's NHL led with a 140% gain, while baseball's MLB rose just 37%, hurt by a possible work stoppage and collapsing local TV deals.

Long term, teams beat stocks by avoiding steep drops, with the average NFL team growing 14.2% yearly since 1996 versus 8.4% for the S&P 500.

After cutting 1K jobs and suffering a 47% stock drop, streaming giant Netflix is adapting its strategy to fight off intense free competition.

Netflix recently hired former Disney executive Peter Rice to help expand the platform into live sports to boost viewership and grow advertising revenue.

Live sporting events successfully attract viewers, with one recent NFL broadcast generating 250K new sign-ups to keep users subscribed between regular TV shows.

English soccer club Manchester City was found guilty of 114 financial breaches for artificially inflating its revenues by over £900M across nine seasons.

Javier Tebas, president of the Spanish soccer league LaLiga, stated that strict penalties are necessary to deter other teams from breaking financial rules.

Tebas also urged global soccer governing bodies FIFA and UEFA to reform their monopolies and enforce transparent, consistent financial regulations across the sport.

Investment firm Sloane Street Capital would pay £16M for 34% now, then £71M over five years, ending with 90% of the club's financial value.

Despite that, the 6,265-member fan trust that owns the club would keep majority voting rights, giving supporters a veto over club and stadium decisions.

If members approve by Nov. 17, the cash would help the club rise beyond England's third tier and expand its 9K-seat stadium toward 20K.

The Independent Football Regulator, a UK oversight body, confirmed it has absolute power to force owner Sheikh Mansour to sell the soccer team.

This follows a guilty verdict that the club artificially inflated its revenues and hid costs by more than $1.2B over nine years.

Simultaneously, the Financial Reporting Council, a UK financial watchdog, took over regulatory powers to investigate the team's financial audits regarding this massive discrepancy.

David Kogan, chair of the UK's independent football regulator, said he would rather the money went to players than the agents negotiating their deals.

English men's clubs in the top five divisions paid agents £548M last season, up 13%, with Chelsea alone paying over £65M.

Kogan does not support a salary cap, a wage limit many favor to curb losses, even though 94% of clubs lost money last season.