Tom Brady’s Las Vegas Raiders Investment Approved by NFL Owner Vote

Tom Brady has been accepted to hitch the NFL’s possession ranks, one of many remaining steps in an funding into the Las Vegas Raiders that stretches again greater than two years.

The previous NFL quarterback and Knighthead Capital co-founder Tom Wagner have an settlement in place to purchase 10% of the Las Vegas Raiders. The deal was unanimously accepted by NFL house owners in a 32-0 vote Tuesday throughout league conferences in Atlanta, in line with an NFL spokesman and Brady.

“I’d wish to thank (majority proprietor) Mark Davis for welcoming me into his household, and the tireless work he’s carried out to assist construct on the group that so many followers know and love right now,” Brady wrote in an announcement. “Additionally thanks to commissioner (Roger) Goodell for his assist, in addition to all of the NFL house owners that supported my dream—I’m eternally grateful.”

Brady and Wagner reached an preliminary settlement in Could 2023, however the league balked on the buy worth, amongst different considerations. The monetary specifics had been amended a number of occasions prior to now 12 months, lastly deciding on a construction that the NFL was snug approving.

In February, Sportico reported that the valuation within the unique deal had been revised upward following pushback. On the time, Brady’s piece of the ten% was about 7%. It’s now about 5%, in line with somebody conversant in the main points. Former NFL participant Richard Seymour was additionally accepted for a small Raiders stake, in line with the NFL spokesman.

Sportico at present values the Raiders at $6.7 billion, although the minority stake virtually definitely carries a smaller valuation.

If Brady’s deal closes, he’ll develop into a part of a small group of former NFL gamers who later joined the league’s possession ranks in a significant method. Late Chicago Bears proprietor George Halas performed within the Nineteen Twenties, and late Carolina Panthers proprietor Jerry Richardson made his NFL debut within the Nineteen Fifties. Former operating again Warrick Dunn (Falcons) and former extensive receiver John Stallworth (Steelers) have each been crew LPs.

Brady and Raiders management proprietor Mark Davis severely mentioned the quarterback’s investing again in 2022, when he initially retired, however the talks had been placed on maintain when Brady returned to the league for the 2022 season. Lively gamers, like all crew staff not associated to the proprietor, aren’t allowed to carry crew fairness.

The talks reignited in early 2023 when Brady retired for good, and the settlement (on the 2022 worth) was introduced in Could, pending league approval. It rapidly drew objections from some members of the league’s finance committee, Sportico beforehand reported, who had considerations about Brady’s Fox standing, his funds, and what may occur if he went to work for the Raiders. The largest challenge was the worth, which many noticed as too steep a reduction. In response, the valuation was later raised to match the worth in a separate Raiders LP transaction from 2023 involving current buyers.

Brady’s deal entails the acquisition of some particular shares—known as RLP Shares on the Raiders’ cap desk—which might be structured barely in another way than different fairness, in line with Sportico’s prior reporting. These shares, which signify about 6% of the crew, aren’t topic to every other Raiders buyers’ “proper of first refusal,” which means nobody else can swoop in and match the worth agreed to between Davis and the Brady group. Some across the NFL speculated that this was intentional—that the unique deal wouldn’t have been possible in any respect with out that particular class of shares as a result of different LPs would have jumped to purchase on the low cost. The shares are the identical as others as soon as they’re bought.

Wagner and Brady met years in the past when their youngsters had been classmates on the similar New York Metropolis faculty, the previous mentioned final 12 months on Bloomberg’s Masters in Enterprise podcast. They’ve co-invested in a lot of sports activities offers, together with English soccer membership Birmingham Metropolis, a Main League Pickleball franchise and an auto-racing crew that competes within the World Endurance Championship.

Brady can be a minority proprietor within the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, that are managed by Davis.

(This story has been up to date so as to add an announcement from Brady.)