NFL taps General Atlantic, PE backer of Creative Planning and Farther

The National Football League has tapped General Atlantic, the private equity firm with stakes in RIAs Creative Planning and Farther, to help turn its in-house investment arm into a bigger sports investing platform. 

General Atlantic and 32 Equity, the NFL’s strategic investment vehicle, announced a partnership this week following the league’s October meeting in New York. The venture will invest in businesses across sports, media, fan engagement and technology. 

In an earlier interview with InvestmentNews, former MLB player turned private equity investor Matt LaPorta said media rights timing is a priority when evaluating investments in sports teams or leagues. LaPorta joined Florida-based Dynasty Financial Partners in June to support the company’s RIA partners with sports investing guidance and access.  

“Media deals are a huge calculation into this whole thing. We have to make sure the timing's right, when is our new media deal, when does the old one run out,” said LaPorta. “Media is probably number one, number two when people are looking at doing deals in the sports space.” 

Both the NFL and General Atlantic will contribute capital and raise money from outside investors, an NFL representative told Sportico. The league will act as general partner, so owners would share in carried interest. Like other 32 Equity gains, those profits fall outside the revenue NFL owners split with players. Terms and the vehicle’s target size were not disclosed. 

The league created 32 Equity in 2013 with $1 million from each owner and has since reached at least $256 million in funds, Sportico reported. Last year, NFL owners authorized a $32 million investment from 32 Equity to help seed a new flag football league. 

“Women's flag football is going to be super important for NFL [fandom] because now you can get all these young females and women playing an awesome game,” LaPorta told InvestmentNews. “Now you're getting those fans that are engaging on the flag side that should translate into the NFL side as well. There could be a world where every NFL owner owns a flag team, maybe a female flag team.”  

Private equity’s RIA-NFL crossover 

For financial advisors, the NFL’s new partner needs little introduction. General Atlantic took a minority stake in Kansas-based Creative Planning in February 2020, when the RIA managed $50 billion. Creative Planning now reports more than $780 billion in assets under management or advisement as one of the biggest firms in the space. General Atlantic also led a $150 million Series D round in the tech-forward RIA startup Farther in May. 

General Atlantic is not alone in straddling both the NFL and RIA space. Carlyle, which took a majority stake in Cleveland-based MAI Capital Management in March of this year, closed a minority investment in the Seattle Seahawks in September.  

The NFL opened franchise ownership to approved private equity firms in 2024 and capped their stakes at 10%. Bloomberg reported this week that Apollo Global Management and Blackstone are in preliminary talks to join the approved list, though approval is unlikely before 2027. 

“Sports is an asset class now. It used to not be that and it’s grown over the last five, seven years,” LaPorta said. “I think it’s a great store of value, nice protection for clients.”