This is likely a jumping off point for them to amend a lot of the language surrounding debt waivers and requirements. Those bylaws and things that were written, were done when the pool of people who could buy teams wasn't exactly lacking. Now you don't even have to take your 2nd mitten off to count how many people in the US have the liquidity to buy an NFL team. The NFL likely will push this through, and things will be changed going forward with this being a new norm.
Agreed. Been saying this all along.
The price of NFL teams has skyrocketed in the last 2 decades and, in our current Bread and Circuses country, they aren't likely to stop going up. If the Commanders franchise, with all it's current baggage and investment needs, is worth over $6B in 2023, I have to think that the Seahawks, a franchise in a much better position in terms of infrastructure and fan support, will be worth more when the Allen Estate gets around to selling in 2024 or 2025. The Chargers are another franchise that could be on the market in the next few years and it could be worth more than Seattle with the new SoFi stadium and SoCal market.
It may sound crazy but we could see teams selling for $10B or more by the end of this decade.
Per Forbes's current list of the richest Americans, there are only 153 people who are worth the $6B that Washington is selling for now. There are only 63 people in the US worth $10B or more. And that is just net worth - not, as Derek has pointed out, liquidity. I have no experience in the world of high finance but I have to think that a person would have to be worth a lot more than the asking price of the team to have the liquidity to buy one.
And as we have seen with Bezos, just having the money isn't enough. They have to actually want to. Guys like Gates, Buffet, Balmer, Musk, Ellison, and others have all had the financial muscle to buy an NFL team for years. None have ever been reported as even vaguely interested. Granted, I'd never heard Rob Walton's name mentioned in connection with an NFL team before last year either but you have to think he is probably an outlier.
All this tells me that Derek's point is well made. The NFL is either going to have to change the rules of ownership or allow the super-rich from foreign countries into the club.
And sooner rather than later.