Julia Koch attends Blaine & Paul Wilmot Celebrate Behind The Blue Door: A Maximalist Mantra By John Demsey Book Party in New York, on Nov. 9, 2023.
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Investor Julia Koch is looking into buying a limited partnership in the NFL’s New York Giants, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to CNBC.
About a year ago, Koch bought a 15% stake in BSE Global, the parent company of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, WNBA’s New York Liberty, and Barclays Center. That stake had a $6 billion valuation, according to a person familiar with the terms of the sale.
Koch and her family are interested in additional investments in teams, especially in the New York market, according to a person familiar with Koch’s thinking.
The people familiar asked to remain unnamed because they are not authorized to speak to the public on these matters.
Koch and her family have a net worth of $74 billion, according to Forbes.
Both the New York Giants and a representative for Julia Koch declined to comment to CNBC on the matter.
Others have been mentioned as possible investors in the Giants, including the team’s former quarterback Eli Manning, who told CNBC he’d be interested in investing in the team. It has also been reported that former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry and former Giants great Michael Strahan were interested in buying a piece of the Giants.
In CNBC’s NFL team valuations published in September, the Giants were valued at $7.85 billion, fourth highest among the league’s 32 teams.
Two people familiar with the matter told CNBC that the situation around investment in the Giants remains very fluid, with different individuals and groups speaking with each other about forming a limited partnership to buy a stake. The stake is likely to be less than 10%, according to another person familiar with the matter.
There has been a spate of limited partner sales of NFL teams over the past several months. In December, an 8% stake in the Philadelphia Eagles went for $8.3 billion. Also in December, Ares Management and Joe Tsai, owner of BSE Global, bought minority stakes in the Miami Dolphins, Hard Rock Stadium, the Miami Grand Prix F1 race and about half the Miami Open tennis tournament. That stake has a valuation of $8.1 billion, according to a person familiar with the sale. On Tuesday, the NFL approved the sale of 6.2% of the San Francisco 49ers at an $8.6 billion valuation, according to a person familiar with that sale.
One reason for the high valuations, according to a sports banker who also asked to remain unnamed in order to speak freely, is that NFL owners in August voted to allow private equity firms to invest in the teams, something MLB, NBA and NHL had all previously approved. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told CNBC’s Scott Wapner on Monday that the league will likely allow more private equity firms to buy into the NFL.
