The Wall Street owners of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils now have a toehold in the NFL.
Josh Harris and David Blitzer acquired a stake of less than 5% in the Pittsburgh Steelers earlier this year, according to two people familiar with the transaction. While no details on price were available, the pair of financiers may have paid as much as $140 million, based on the $2.8 billion value Forbes estimated for the NFL franchise last September.
The deal opens a new chapter for Harris and Blitzer, two of Wall Street’s more prolific investors in professional sports. In addition to the 76ers and Devils, they own Newark’s Prudential Center and the Crystal Palace soccer club of the English Premier League. Most recently, they’ve been exploring a possible bid for the New York Mets.
The Steelers are controlled by the sons of team founder Art Rooney. Other investors include hedge fund manager Rob Citrone, former Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner and John Stallworth, who played for the team in the 1970s and 80s. The team has won six Super Bowls, with its most recent win in 2009.
When Harris and Blitzer led the group that paid $280 million for the 76ers in 2011, they joined the growing ranks of financiers in the owners boxes of pro sports franchises. The list now includes Steve Pagliuca, Jeff Vinik, Phil Anschutz, David Bonderman, Tony Ressler and Marc Lasry.
Billionaire and Pittsburgh native David Tepper, the founder of Appaloosa Management, used to own close to 5% of the Steelers. His stake was put in play in 2018 when he bought the NFL’s Carolina Panthers for almost $2.3 billion.
Harris and Blitzer are joining the ownership group as passive investors alongside the Rooney family, with no input on operations, the people said. They declined to comment through a spokesman. A voicemail left with the Steelers’ media relations department after regular office hours wasn’t returned.
While the financiers are partners in sports, they’re rivals on Wall Street. Harris made his multibillion-dollar fortune as a cofounder of Apollo Global Management Inc., while Blitzer runs the Tactical Opportunities group at rival Blackstone Group Inc. The Steelers stake won’t be part of the holding company they formed in 2017, Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, according to the people familiar with the transaction.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.
