Hi {{first_name | there}} ,
Normally, hitting a jackpot comes with bells and whistles, flashing lights adding to the excitement. But for the group who just purchased a piece of the Raiders, it came with… no noise.
All this and more on the always changing financial side of sports.
Take a look 👇 👇
FRANCHISE SALE
The Raiders Just Sold 25% at a $9.9 Billion Valuation — And Nobody’s Talking About It
First Football, the largest minority shareholder in the Las Vegas Raiders, is selling its 25% stake to a group led by Egon Durban — co-CEO of Silver Lake, a technology private equity firm — at a $9.9 billion enterprise valuation. The original buy-in? A weighted average of around $700 million back in 2007. That’s a 14x return in under 20 years on a minority stake in the NFL.
Durban will become the largest minority owner at over 11%, while Mark Davis retains control with 36%. Tom Brady, who bought roughly 10% of the Raiders in 2024 at $3.5 billion valuation, is already sitting on a paper gain.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
The flip tax alone — 10% of the purchase price paid to the league and split among the other 31 other teams — comes out at roughly $990 million. Every NFL owner wins when a franchise changes hands at this level. It’s an underlying part of the business no one talks about.
🏈 Read more from CNBC here
FRANCHISE OWNERSHIP
The Knicks and Rangers Are Splitting Up — And Both Could Be Worth More Apart
Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. (NYSE: MSGS) filed a Form 10 Registration Statement with the SEC on May 18th, formally beginning the process of spinning off the New York Rangers business from the New York Knicks. If completed, it would create two separate, publicly traded sports companies.
The logic is clean: the Knicks are an NBA franchise in the Easter Conference Finals. The Rangers are one of hockey’s “Original Six” franchises coming off their 100th anniversary season. Bundled together, the market struggles to price either one accurately. Separated, each gets a cleaner valuation story — and potentially a higher one.
Two Tickers, Two Valuations
This is the sports ownership version of a corporate spinoff playbook. When a conglomerate breaks apart, the sum of the parts often exceed the whole. James Dolan has been sitting on two of the most iconic franchises in American sports under one roof. The question is, now, whether unlocking them separate creates more value — for shareholders, and potentially for future buyers.
🏒 🏀 Read the MSG Sports Investor Relations note here
Start 3/Bench 1
⬆ Katherine Legge. Legge is attempting the Memorial Day Weekend famous “double,” meaning she will drive in the Indy 500 in Indianapolis and then fly to Charlotte and race in the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. Only 5 drivers have ever attempted the “double”, with only Tony Stewart successfully completing the feat. She is the first female to attempt the 1,100 mile. — Read More Here
⬆ Aaron Rai. The 31-year-old British golfer was a long shot to hoist the Wanamaker trophy, but dominated the field winning by 3 strokes. Check out the 70 foot putt that sealed Rai’s victory. — Take A Look
⬆ Women’s Track & Field. ATHLOS, the women’s only track and field compeition league, announced that they will distribute over $2 million in prize money across 7 events in 2026. Some athletes will also earn equity in the league. — Read Official Statement
⬇ Southhampton FC. On the verge of competting for promotion to the Premier League, the EFL has disqualified Southhampton from playing against Hull City on Saturday in the Championship League final due to a cheating scandal. Instead, Middlesbrough will compete against Hull City. The EFL denied Southhamptons appeal to revert the decision. — Read More Here
WNBA OWNERSHIP
The Connecticut Sun Is Now the Houston Sun — And Tilman Feritta Just Got His WNBA Team
Last week, the WNBA and NBA boards of governors unanimously approved the sale and relocation of the Connecticut Sun to Houston Rockets owner, Tilman Feritta for $300 million. The Sun will finish in Connecticut before moving to Houston, where they’ll come to share a market with the Houston Comets — the WNBA expansion franchise tied up in a trademark dispute over naming rights with a Travis Scott- linked company.
Feritta now owns both the Rockets and a WNBA franchise in the same city. That’s the multi-sport ownership playbook in real time — one arena, one market, one ownership group monetizing two leagues.
☀ Read the ESPN article here
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MULTI-TEAM OWNERSHIP
Mercedes Wants to Buy Into Alpine. The FIA Isn’t Sure It Should Let Them
Otro Capital, the private equity firm that owns a 24% stake of the Alpine F1 team, is looking to sell — and Mercedes is the preferred buyer. The stake is valued roughly at $600 million. The deal would make Mercedes a financial stakeholder in a direct competitor, which is the exact kind of arrangement that has MacLaren CEO Zak Brown writing formal letters to the FIA (International Automobile Federation) demanding a crackdown.
The FIA president has gone public saying he’s “looking into” multi-team ownership, concerned it could compromise sporting integrity and give certain ownership groups outsized voting power when rule changes are discussed. Red Bull already owns Racing Bulls. If Mercedes buys into Alpine, two of the sport’s top manufacturers would each have a financial interest in a second team.
Ownership Shapes The Rules
In every major sport, the people who own the teams also vote on the rules. When ownership structures start to overlap — whether it’s multi-club soccer, dual F1 teams or a broadcaster trying to buy an NFL franchise — the line between competition and coordination gets blurry. Formula 1 is just the latest sport to realize it hasn’t yet written the rules for this era.
🏎 Read more from F1 Oversteer here
