Blue Owl Capital (NYSE:OWL) co-founder Doug Ostover is selling his remaining stake in the NFL's Washington Commanders back to the Josh-Harris-led ownership group.
Ostover, who sold part of his stake last year, is offloading the rest now, according to Bloomberg News.
In 2023, Ostrover and Blue Owl co-founder Marc Lipschultz joined an investor group led by Harris, which purchased the Commanders for over $6 billion. That was the largest amount ever paid for a professional sports team in the U.S. at the time.
Blue Owl recently changed the terms of its personal loans, removing the company's shares as collateral. This came as the private credit sector has seen market turbulence in recent months, much of which Blue Owl has borne.
Shares of Blue Owl stock have declined from all-time highs of roughly $25 in January 2025 to around $11. This steep sell-off reflects a 60% drop. Liquidity strains and elevated redemption requests have spread across private credit funds amid rising investor skepticism over the firm's exposure to the IT and software sectors.
Major leagues such as the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL now permit private equity investment into their franchises.
The Cleveland Browns sold 10% of the club to private equity firm Arctos Partners for more than $9 billion.
Thrive Capital recently bought a small stake in the San Francisco Giants through a new holding company called Thrive Eternal.
Meanwhile, a consortium comprising Blackstone (NYSE:BX), Bolt Ventures, Aditya Birla Group, and The Times of India Group agreed to acquire the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) cricket franchise back in March.
According to a report from Meketa, the global sports market reached $463 billion in revenue in 2024. It is projected to accelerate to just over $600 billion in revenue by 2028, and to nearly $863 billion by 2033.
Photo: T. Schneider via Shutterstock
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