According to sources who spoke to Forbes, Josh Harris and David Blitzer are selling their combined 4.8% ownership in the Pittsburgh Steelers to Art Rooney II, the team president, and billionaire investor Thomas Tull for an enterprise value that is slightly over $4 billion, including $200 million in debt.
Forbes valued the Steelers at $4.63 billion in August, ranking them 18th in the NFL. However, such appraisal came after Harris and Blitzer started discussing the deal with Tull and Rooney. Tull’s net worth is believed to be $3 billion. He founded the production business Legendary Entertainment and was a previous film investor.
In July, a company led by Harris paid $6.05 billion to acquire the Washington Commanders. Blitzer is a minority investor and Harris serves as the Commanders’ managing partner. Owners are not allowed to own shares in more than one team by NFL regulations, and Harris and Blitzer have been in talks to sell their Steelers shares for a number of months.
At least 24 of the league’s 32 owners must approve the sale for which the buyers are not receiving a minority stake discount, indicating the strong demand from investors to control a portion of the league. Rooney and Tull would be contributing slightly less than $200 million at the $4 billion enterprise valuation.When Bloomberg first announced the deal, it omitted to include thecost.
Tull became an investor in the steelers in 2008 when he purchased a 16% stake in the team. Rooney’s stake in the steelers will only increase to just over 20%.
According to nfl rules, the controlling owner of a team must own at least 30%. No one in the rooney family owns that much, but the rooney family’s total wealth is greater than that, with four individuals plus the daniel rooney trust. Being a minority shareholder in the steelers, not only because the team’s value has increased more than 50% since they bought their stake in 2020, but also because the two became familiar with the nfl’s power brokers, and vice versa. When it came to buy the commanders, harris was able to familiarize himself with the league.
The world’s fifth-most valuable sports empire, valued at $11.9 billion, is currently led by Harris (estimated net worth of $8.5 billion) and Blitzer ($2.2 billion). Investments in the leagues include the NFL (Commanders), NBA (Philadelphia 76ers), NHL (New Jersey Devils), and soccer (Crystal Palace).
