The clubs of the NFL have voted to authorize to invest up to $32 million in a professional league for American flag football. The vote took place this month during a virtual meeting of the league’s clubs. The NFL will be proceeding through its collective investment vehicle, 32 Equity.
The NFL’s Executive Vice President of Football Operations, Troy Vincent Sr., has in response echoed the statements in October of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who spoke of establishing flag football as a global sport. “We are developing the infrastructure to accelerate the game’s growth to new heights by creating a clear pathway for aspiring athletes to progress from youth and high school programs through college and now to the professional level,” Vincent has said.
The NFL calls flag football “one of the fastest growing sports in the world, with 20 million players,” and notes that it will become an Olympic sport for the first time in 2028, at the Los Angeles Games – and that it a standard sport at high schools in 38 of the 50 US states.
NFL’s equity strategy
32 Equity was established in 2013 – with an initial $1 million from each of the 32 teams, and an additional $2 million each in 2019. At least in part, the purpose has been to move away from cash-for-sponsorship deals and toward equity stakes “in the very partners that benefit from NFL exposure” – to quote Rayde Luis Baez, founder of the advisory firm The Connect and co-founder of the marketing firm Sporthink (see article on LinkedIn). Baez sets present-day invested capital at about $256 million.
