Taxpayers Increasing Investments for Foreign Wealth Funds Disguised through Private Equity
Do you know that your favorite sports teams owners have ties to sovereign wealth funds run by countries with abysmal human rights records like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, or the United Arab Emirates? Do you know that Americans like yourself are paying taxes to foot the bill for these stadiums, increasing the value of their investment for these countries?
Fans across the country pride themselves on knowing every detail of their designated teams. However, while fans may think they know who the owners are of their beloved teams, they don’t often know where that owner’s financing comes from, and just how much taxpayers are subsidizing foreign sovereign wealth funds.
Public records show that many of America’s admired and highly watched leagues like the MLB, NHL, and NBA have direct or indirect ties to sovereign wealth funds run by authoritarian regimes with many human rights violations.
These connections are often through private equity firms that have had major investments from sovereign wealth funds for decades – all reported on public records.
Blackstone is a private equity giant that has had investments from Saudi Arabia’s Private Investment Fund (PIF) in 2017 and has current business ties to many other sovereign wealth funds. One of the employees of Blackstone is David Blitzer who is a member of their management committee and heads their global Tactical Opportunities group. David Blitzer owns stake in Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Guardians, New Jersey Devils, Washington Commanders, and some stake in MLS and NWSL teams. He is also the co-owner of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment with Josh Harris, the current owner of the Commanders. Why does this matter to you? Well…you are paying for their stadiums.
Ohio taxpayers have contributed $18 million a year for the Cleveland Guardians to use for Progressive Field and its possible renovations due to a 15 year lease agreement. For the New Jersey Devils, taxpayers funded at least $210 million to move Prudential Center to Military Park from Newark’s Gateway Center.
Blackstone Group, one of the UAE’s sovereign wealth funds Mubadala Investment Company, and RedBird Capital has a stake in Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network (YES), which is a sports television network owned by Yankee Global Enterprises. Taxpayers have given about $1.2 billion from subsidies to build Yankee Stadium with the Yankees themselves supplying $670.6 million.
Just to continue making matters worse,Arctos Partners has its hands in not one, but 20 different sports teams. Most recently Arctos joined the global consulting firm, Elevate Sports Ventures whose partners include Oak View Group, the San Francisco 49ers, Live Nation, and Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment. The PIF has a $500 million stake in Live Nation. Arctos also has an ownership stake in Fenway Sports Group with RedBird Capital, who owns the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Boston Red Sox. Globally,Arctos currently splits ownership of the European futbol club Paris-Saint Germain with Qatar's government backed fund known from public records as Qatar Sports Investment (QSI).
For years, Sports Fans Coalition has been calling out the corruption behind taxpayer funded arenas and stadiums. The new pattern of sovereign wealth funds just makes the issue worse for American taxpayers and fans. We should not be footing the bill for the benefit of countries that go against the basic human rights that America defends across the world. It is far past time for Congress to investigate how private equity and their foreign partners are harming American sports and call for a complete divestment of these funds from our teams.