Jaxson Dart #6 of the New York Giants celebrates during an NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium on Oct. 9, 2025 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Cooper Neill | Getty Images
The National Football League on Wednesday approved the purchase of a 10% stake in the New York Giants by Julia Koch in a transaction that values the team at $10.3 billion, according to two people who are close to the deal but not authorized to speak publicly. The deal marks the highest valuation placed on an NFL team for a team sale.
The Giants are currently owned by the Mara and Tisch families. CNBC broke the news in May that Koch was looking to buy a limited partnership piece of the Giants.
The league also approved the sale of two other limited partner stakes, according to a person who is close to the approvals but does not have permission from the NFL to speak about them publicly. The person confirmed that Dean Metropoulos and private equity firm Sixth Street Partners bought an 8% stake in the New England Patriots in a deal that values the team at $9 billion, and that Fortress Investment Group Executive Chairman Pete Briger Jr. picked up a 3.2% stake in the San Francisco 49ers in a deal that values the team at about $8.6 billion.
All three limited partner sales had to be approved by at least three-quarters of the NFL’s owners.
Julia Koch attends Prostate Cancer Foundation Presents the 2017 New York Dinner on Nov. 6, 2017 in New York City.
Sylvain Gaboury | Patrick McMullan | Getty Images
As CNBC reported last month, the proceeds from the limited partner sale of the Patriots will go on the team’s balance sheet. A person who is familiar with the deal but not authorized to speak about it publicly said the post-money valuation for the Patriots is $9.5 billion. The York family, which owns the 49ers, also sold a 6.2% stake in the team in May at an $8.6 billion valuation, according to a person familiar with that deal.
Last month, a small piece of the Chicago Bears was sold at an $8.9 billion valuation; that deal set the previous record for a valuation in the sale of a minority stake in an NFL team.
In CNBC’s NFL valuations published Sept. 4, the Giants were valued at $10.5 billion, Patriots at $9.25 billion, Bears at $8.9 billion and 49ers at $8.6 billion. The last control purchase of an NFL team was when Josh Harris paid $6.05 billion to buy the Washington Commanders from Dan Snyder in 2023.
One reason NFL team values have been going up sharply is the expectation of much higher media rights. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told CNBC’s Alex Sherman last month that the league could begin renegotiating its 11-year, $111 billion media rights deals as soon as next year. The league’s current media rights are significantly undervalued in the context of the NFL’s dominant television ratings, according to Nielsen, and the new media rights deals for the NBA and NHL. According to the NFL, the league is averaging 18.5 million viewers, television and digital, per game this year, the highest average through week five since 2010 and the second-highest average on record.
Another reason values are escalating is the introduction of private equity investors a year ago. Private equity firms are showing a great interest in buying into the NFL — the biggest and most profitable sports league in the world — and are boosting values by setting a floor on valuations and erasing concerns other limited partners may have had over liquidity, CNBC reported.
