Why NFL ownership changes would be bad for league

The NFL is looking to open NFL ownership to a wider pool of candidates, and this is a bad sign for the league.

According to ESPN, a special committee of NFL owners has been investigating potential changes to league rules for team ownership.

"One of the possibilities on the table: allowing institutional wealth, including private equity, to invest in NFL franchises, which the league has never permitted," writes Michael Rothstein.

According to Rothstein, the committee is considering this unprecedented move due to "a shrinking pool of potential team buyers amid soaring team valuations."

While this appears to be a great business decision, it would be horrible for football fans. The main interest of these private equity firms would be to make money, and results would be put on the back burner. Rosters would be open to massive payroll cuts all in the name of profit.

The loosening of ownership rules also raises the question of if the NFL would then be open to allowing sovereign wealth funds, which are defined as state-owned investment groups. While predominantly popular in the global game of soccer, sovereign wealth funds have begun to appear in other sports, such as The Qatar Investment Authority holding 5% equity of Leonsis' Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Washington Wizards (NBA), Washington Capitals (NHL) and Washington Mystics (WNBA). 

Arguably the most prominent sovereign wealth fund in recent times is the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. It now is owner of Newcastle United and also created the LIV Golf Tour. Prior to the eventual takeover of Newcastle, Amnesty International called on the English Premier League to look at the human rights record of the Middle Eastern nation.

"Ever since this deal was first talked about we said it represented a clear attempt by the Saudi authorities to sportswash their appalling human rights record with the glamour of top-flight football," Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International's UK chief executive, said.

Sportswashing is defined as "the use of an athletic event by an individual or a government, a corporation, or another group to promote or burnish the individual’s or group’s reputation, especially amid controversy or scandal."

If the NFL continues to loosen its ownership rules, PIF or the Qatar Investment Authority could make the league its next sportswashing endeavor.