Sportswashing in the NFL has Scored its First Touchdown

In August, the NFL took the knee to allow private equity into the league. The NFL permitted these firms to acquire up to 10% ownership of teams in the league. Arctos Partners, Ares Management, Blackstone, Carlyle, and CVC were among the vetted PE firms allowed to own a stake. 

Arctos Partners and Ares Management are no strangers to the world of sports team investment. Arctos has its hands in a supposed 20 different sports teams. The American teams are Tampa Bay Lightning, Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Utah Jazz, Pittsburgh Penguins, and San Francisco Giants. Ares Management founders and CEOs have connections to ownership of American teams such as the Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Hawks, and Milwaukee Brewers.

Now after meeting in near Dallas, these two private equity titans have furthered their control over the sports world with the ownership of two AFC East teams. Ares Management has acquired a 10% stake in the Miami Dolphins, while Arctos Partners has acquired a 10% stake in the Buffalo Bills. 

Why should you care? Well…these funds get investments from foreign wealth funds like Saudi Arabia and American taxpayers will likely foot the bill for their investment by paying for their stadiums. 

Saudi Arabia’s  PIF invests in Ares Management and has invested in the McLaren Formula 1 team together in 2021. Ares Management also has a joint venture with Qatar’s Mubadala with $1 billion in 2023.

Further involvement through Arctos joining Elevate Sports Ventures, which is a global consulting firm whose partners include Oak View Group, the San Francisco 49ers, Live Nation, and Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment. The PIF has an estimated 5.7% ownership stake in Live Nation. Arctos currently splits ownership of the European football team Paris-Saint Germain with Qatar's government backed fund known as Qatar Sports Investment (QSI).

Tampa taxpayers provided $61 million for Amalie Arena home to the Lightning, and from public records a suggested new $61 million is asked by owner Jeffrey Vinik. Atlanta taxpayers have paid a suggested $142.5 million in renovations for the Atlanta Hawks stadium and possibly even more for the Falcons and Braves stadiums. Milwaukee taxpayers have paid a supposed $609 million in construction costs over the past two decades for the Brewers stadium known as the American Family Field. As we enter the next wave of public funded stadium construction, do we really want our tax dollars lining the pocket of foreign authoritarian regimes? 

Sports Fans Coalition will continue to report on the invasion of PE into the NFL to ensure fans are aware of who owns their beloved teams. These firms must be held accountable for using money from countries with abysmal human rights records to further fleece American taxpayers. Sportswashing should have no place in the NFL.