The New England Patriots, of the National Football League (NFL), are putting an 8 percent stake up for sale, according to Sports Business Journal (SBJ). The team is at present owned in its entirety by Robert Kraft, founder, chairman and CEO of The Kraft Group.
According to SBJ’s sources, there are two acquirers lined up. One is private-equity firm Sixth Street Capital, seeking 3 percent at a team valuation exceeding $9 billion. (Kraft acquired the team, in 1994, for $172 million.) The other, seeking the remaining 5 percent, is Dean Metropoulos, principal of the investment firm Metropoulos & Co.
All deals are subject to the approval of the NFL owners, scheduled to meet on Oct. 21-22. At this same meeting the owners will be discussing the sale of 10 percent of the New York Giants to Julia Koch and her family, as we’ve reported. Whatever happens, Kraft intends to retain control of the Patriots, per SBJ’s sources.
Sixth Street was part of the consortium that purchased a controlling stake in the Boston Celtics in August, and in March it purchased a 10 percent stake in the San Francisco Giants. It holds stakes also in Bay FC, Real Madrid, the San Antonio Spurs and FC Barcelona.
The Kraft Group has interests in such sports-related properties as Kraft Analytics Group (KAGR), which performs “data management, advanced analytics and strategic consulting in the sports and entertainment industry.” Kraft Sports Group, a division of The Kraft Group, manages the Patriots and related assets, among them the team’s home field, Kraft-owned Gillette Stadium. The Kraft family helped found Major League Soccer (MLS) and owns one of its founding clubs, the New England Revolution. Kraft himself founded the Boston Uprising, an e-sports team in the Overwatch League. It was active from 2017 to 2024.
Neither Dean Metropoulos nor Metropoulos & Co. appears to have at present any significant holdings in sports.
