Credit: Sports Business Journal
As Sports Business Journal reports, The San Francisco 49ers have once again sold part of their ownership, marking another step in the team’s evolving capital structure.
According to Sports Business Journal, controlling owner Jed York has agreed to sell a 3.2% stake in the franchise to Pete Briger Jr., managing partner and board chairman of Fortress Investment Group. The transaction values the team at $8.5 billion, consistent with the valuation set during a previous stake sale in May.
In that earlier deal, York sold 6% of the team to three Bay Area families — the Khoslas, Griffiths, and Deeters. Together with Briger’s investment, these transactions reflect growing interest in minority ownership of one of the NFL’s most valuable franchises.
The sale is expected to net the 49ers around $272 million, while the York family continues to maintain majority control, holding approximately 88% of the franchise.
Briger, based in Menlo Park, joins high-profile Bay Area investors already on the 49ers’ cap table:
- Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems.
- Will Griffith, partner at ICONIQ Capital.
- Byron Deeter, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners.
The deal remains subject to approval from NFL owners, who in 2023 voted to allow private equity investments of up to 10% in franchises — a major policy shift designed to bring new capital into the league without diluting family control.
Why This Matters
For the NFL, the 49ers’ latest deal underscores a growing trend: strategic minority sales to institutional and elite private investors, rather than full takeovers. For York, the sales help strengthen financial flexibility while ensuring new partners add value beyond capital — through technology, venture networks, and regional influence.
York himself hinted at this approach earlier this year:
“We get approached probably on a weekly basis from someone who’s interested. If there’s an opportunity that makes sense, we would always explore that. But we’d try to find the right people who would help bolster everything in and around the team — on the field, off the field, and as partners.”
With Super Bowl LX set to be hosted at Levi’s Stadium in 2026, the 49ers’ growing valuation and expanded ownership group reflect the franchise’s positioning as both a competitive powerhouse and a business juggernaut in American sport.
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