NFL Rumors: Eagles’ Jeffrey Lurie Exploring Possible Sale of Minority Ownership Stake

Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie is looking into the possibility of selling a portion of the franchise.

Per Gillian Tan of Bloomberg, Lurie is working with BDT & MSD Partners to sell a minority stake in the Eagles at a time when the total value of the franchise could be worth more than $7.5 billion.

The size of the potential minority stake is unknown at this point, but Tan noted it won’t be enough to attain majority control of the franchise in the future.

Lurie’s exploration of adding a minority owner comes at a time when various sports leagues, including the NFL, are exploring the possibility of private equity firms being allowed to purchase a stake in teams.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the topic during a press conference at the NFL’s annual spring meeting last month:

“We’re being very thoughtful and deliberate. The (finance) committee is working it pretty hard. We’ve got a lot of interest in the private equity space. … We are making real progress on potential private equity. We’re going to continue to be very deliberate, but I expect there to be something by the end of the year.”

ESPN’s Michael Rothstein noted on May 19 that the league has had a special committee looking into potential changes to league rules for team ownership for nine months.

The committee’s investigation comes as NFL franchise values have skyrocketed, decreasing the pool of potential buyers whenever a franchise becomes available.

Per the most recent franchise valuations from Forbes released in August 2023, the average value for an NFL team is $5.1 billion. The least-valuable franchise is the Cincinnati Bengals at $3.5 billion.

Goodell also said at his press conference that league owners agreed to raise the debt limit for franchise acquisition by $200 million to $1.4 billion.

Lurie has owned the Eagles since 1994 when he spent $185 million to purchase the franchise from Norman Braman.

Under Lurie’s ownership, the Eagles have made the playoffs 18 times and advanced to the Super Bowl three times. They defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 52 for the first Super Bowl title in franchise history.