National Football League owners approved Tom Brady as minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders on Tuesday.

The seven-time Super Bowl champion bought about 10% of the Raiders together with his business partner, the founding father of Knighthead Capital Tom Wagner.

Brady and Wagner are buying into the Raiders at a valuation of about $3.5 billion, with an equity investment of about $220 million as a part of the partnership, based on people aware of the negotiations. In addition to that quantity, Brady and Wagner needed to pay a ten% “flip tax,” the proceeds of which could be divided among the many league’s 31 other owners.

Separately, former NFL player Richard Seymour acquired lower than a 1% stake within the Raiders, also at a valuation of $3.5 billion, the people said.

The NFL's 32 team owners unanimously signed the deal on the league meeting in Atlanta, the person told CNBC. Brady and Wagner didn’t attend the meeting, based on an individual aware of the matter.

In CNBC's official 2024 NFL team valuation, the Raiders were ranked the NFL's fifth Most worthy franchise at $7.8 billion, meaning Brady and Wagner received a reduction of over 50%. According to sports bankers, the everyday discount for a limited partner who has no say in how the team is run and no ability to regulate ownership is 20% to 25%.

The Raiders' value has increased for the reason that team moved from Oakland in 2020. Before the move, the team ranked in the underside half of the league's 32 teams.

Since the team moved to Las Vegas and its recent stadium, its revenue has increased significantly. According to CNBC estimates, the Raiders generated $780 million in 2023 revenue, third-highest within the league, and EBITDA of $115 million.

While the 65,000-seat Allegiant Stadium is among the many smallest within the NFL, the Raiders compensated by charging the best ticket price within the league, CNBC previously reported. The average general ticket price was $169 last season.

Allegiant Stadium, operated by the Raiders, hosts quite a few non-NFL events all year long, providing additional revenue for the franchise. In 2023, the Raiders took in over $50 million from concert events and other events resembling college football.

Brady's bid for a part of the team began in May 2023, but was held up because some owners felt they couldn't do it The original offer was too low-cost.

After retiring from the NFL for the primary time, Brady signed a 10-year, $375 million broadcast take care of Fox Sports in 2022. Brady's recent owner will come with restrictions about how he covers the team.

For example, Brady could be allowed to broadcast Raiders games but wouldn’t be allowed to take part in in-person or online production meetings. He also may not have access to team facilities, players and coaches.

Brady can be subject to league rules that prohibit public criticism of officials and other clubs.

The five-time Super Bowl MVP isn’t any newcomer to the Las Vegas sports scene. He can be a minority owner of the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Associationwhich, just like the Raiders, belongs to Mark Davis.

Brady will grow to be only the third former NFL player to grow to be a team owner.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Jon Gruden is asking the total Nevada Supreme Court to reconsider a three-judge panel's decision to dismiss a lawsuit he filed against the NFL over emails leaked to the media before he resigned as coach of the Las Vegas Raiders in 2021.

Gruden's lawyers filed documents on Monday after the panel in a Decision of 14 May However, the league can take the civil case on contract interference and conspiracy charges out of state court and convey it before an arbitration panel that might be overseen by considered one of the defendants, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

The same three judges at 1 July rejected, by the identical 2-1 margin, a motion by Gruden's lawyers for reconsideration was denied. Two judges said Gruden knew the NFL used arbitration to resolve disputes. The judge who dissented said it could be “outrageous” for Goodell to arbitrate a dispute by which he is called as a defendant.

An NFL spokesman declined to comment Tuesday, and attorneys for Gruden and the league didn’t reply to emails about Monday's court filing.

It was the most recent development in Gruden's lawsuit She alleges that Goodell and the league forced Gruden to resign from the Raiders by leaking emails containing racist, sexist and homophobic comments that Gruden sent about Goodell and other players within the NFL while working as a game analyst for ESPN.

Gruden was head coach of the Raiders when the team moved from Oakland, California, to Las Vegas in 2020. In his lawsuit, he seeks damages and claims the selective disclosure of the emails and their publication by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times ruined his profession and his endorsement deals.

Gruden was an NFL coach in Oakland and Tampa Bay from 1990 to 2008, where he led the Buccaneers to the Super Bowl title in 2003. He worked for several years as a TV commentator for ESPN before rejoining the Raiders in 2018.

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NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Originally published: July 31, 2024 at 5:46 am

LAS VEGAS – Jon Gruden lost an attempt by three Nevada Supreme Court judges on Monday to rule on whether a lawsuit he filed against the NFL over emails leaked to the media before his resignation as coach of the Las Vegas Raiders ought to be heard in court or in private arbitration.

Attorneys for Gruden, the league and an NFL spokesman didn’t reply to messages after a two-word order – “New hearing denied” – was posted on a court website. It was not immediately clear whether Gruden will request a hearing before the total, seven-member state Supreme Court.

Gruden's lawyers requested a brand new hearing after the three-judge panel reached a Decision of 14 May However, the league can take the civil case on contract interference and conspiracy charges out of state court and produce it before an arbitration panel that might be overseen by certainly one of the defendants, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Gruden's lawsuitThe lawsuit, filed in November 2021, alleges that Goodell and the league forced him to resign from the Raiders by leaking racist, sexist and homophobic emails he sent years earlier when he was at ESPN.

The two-judge majority said Gruden was aware that the NFL structure allows disputes to be resolved through arbitration, and it was not clear whether Goodell or a chosen outside arbitrator would hear Gruden's case.

Gruden was the Raiders' head coach when the team moved from Oakland, California, to Las Vegas in 2020. He left the team in November 2021 with greater than six seasons left on his record-breaking 10-year, $100 million contract.

The league appealed to the state’s highest court after a Las Vegas judge ruled in May 2022 that Gruden’s claim that the league intentionally only his documents could provide evidence of a ‘specific intention’ or an motion geared toward bringing about a specific result.

Gruden was at ESPN when the emails were sent to former Washington Commanders general manager Bruce Allen from 2011 to 2018. They were found amongst about 650,000 emails the league received as a part of an investigation into the Washington team's work culture.

Gruden is in search of damages, claiming that the selective disclosure of the emails and their publication by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times destroyed his profession and ruined promoting deals.

Gruden worked as a coach within the NFL from 1990 to 2008, including in Oakland and with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, whom he led to the Super Bowl title in 2003. He worked for several years as a TV commentator for ESPN before rejoining the Raiders in 2018.

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NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

By TOM CANAVAN (AP Sports Writer)

New York Giants tight end Darren Waller announced his retirement from football on Sunday, saying he found “a lot of joy” in the game but “the passion is slowly fading.”

In a posted an almost 18-minute video on his YouTube channelWaller, 31, confirmed his retirement from the gaming business after serious about his future in recent months.

The Giants had been waiting for Waller to come to a decision whether he desired to play this season. He had not participated within the team's offseason workouts and mandatory minicamp begins Tuesday.

Waller described a “very scary” medical situation last November as he handled an injury he sustained in a game a couple of days earlier. He said he was on his way home to New Jersey after filming a music video when he felt sick and later began “shaking pretty badly” and couldn't breathe. He said he called 911 and was hospitalized for 3 1/2 days.

“I'm going back to my everyday life and it's pretty clear to me that I almost lost my life and I don't know if I would have really felt like I died and felt great about how my life would have turned out,” Waller said. “I'm doing something that I've enjoyed a lot and had great moments with, but the passion is starting to fade.”

He said the experience “put me in a situation where I had to change my mind and I made the decision that I was retiring from the NFL.”

Waller, who has struggled with hamstring problems the past three years, was limited to 12 games and had 52 catches for 552 yards and a touchdown in his only season with the Giants. He was set to make $10.5 million in 2024 and count $14.1 million against the salary cap. With his retirement, the Giants save $11.6 million in salary cap space and record a $2.5 million loss in dead money.

Drafted within the sixth round by the Ravens in 2015, Waller overcame early substance abuse issues to ascertain himself as one among the NFL's top tight ends. He was suspended for the primary 4 games of the 2016 season for violating the league's substance abuse policy and again for the 2017 season for a second policy violation.

Waller spoke openly about his struggle with addiction in addition to his depression and anxiety.

“I'm eternally grateful to the sport of football,” he said. “I wouldn't be able to have this conversation or think about things or think about myself if I hadn't had the opportunity to save my life and go to the rehab that the NFL has given me. They've also given me the opportunity to rebuild myself, to go back out into the world and do something productive, to be a role model, to be a leader, to make a difference in my craft, but also just in everyday life wherever I go.

“Well man, I’m eternally grateful.”

Waller finished his career with 350 catches, 4,124 yards receiving and 20 touchdowns in 86 games. He played with the Ravens and Raiders before spending his final season with the Giants, who acquired him in an offseason trade.

“We have tremendous respect for Darren as an individual and a player,” the Giants said in a statement. “We wish him nothing but the perfect.”

The Ravens released Waller before the 2018 season and he was signed to the Raiders' practice squad. He appeared in 4 games and had six catches.

His breakout seasons were 2019 and 2020, when he totaled 197 catches for two,341 yards and 12 touchdowns. He was chosen to the Pro Bowl for the 2020 season and would have been a reserve last yr, but a thumb injury prevented him from doing so.

Waller and Giants coach Brian Daboll exchanged text messages through the offseason, however the coach said last Thursday that the team continues to be waiting for a choice from him on his future as a player.

Much was expected of Waller last season, but he underperformed for a team that finished 6-11 and missed the playoffs a yr after Daboll led them to their first playoff berth since 2016.

Waller married WNBA star guard Kelsey Plum in March 2023, but they filed for divorce in April.

New York drafted tight end Theo Johnson from Penn State within the fourth round within the last draft in case Waller doesn't return. Daniel Bellinger and Lawrence Cager return from last season. New York also signed experienced Chris Manhertz as a free agent.

After months of back-and-forth negotiations with Alameda County, Oakland officials proposed spending a complete of $20 million to purchase the county's ownership interest in two notable East Bay properties — each related to skilled sports.

For years, town and county have co-owned the Raiders' former practice facility, which houses a track and field facility and a number of other soccer fields in Alameda, in addition to the Malibu property, an enormous car parking zone next to the Coliseum in East Oakland.

Both sides agree that this arrangement has often been awkward, particularly when negotiating with sports franchises that wish to use one in all the sites – most recently Oakland Roots SC, a well-liked lower league soccer club.

Now town is proposing to purchase the county's half-ownership share of the old Raiders site for $12 million and the identical share of the Malibu property for $8.7 million. The takeover plans will probably be presented to town council on April thirtieth.

The exact details of the sale have yet to be worked out, but when successful, it might keep the fast-growing Roots franchise — plus an accompanying women's team, the Soul — anchored in and around Oakland.

The proposed move comes as disillusioned fans still feel the sting of the A's heading to Sacramento on the approach to Las Vegas, signaling the top of major skilled sports in Oakland.

The Roots currently train on the old Raiders facility at 1150 Harbor Bay Parkway in Alameda. Earlier this yr, San Francisco real estate firm Prologis offered to purchase your complete 16-acre property for $24 million and lease it to each the Roots and Soul, which had their inaugural seasons last yr.

The Roots and Soul also hope to construct a brief, 10,000-seat modular stadium on the 8.8-acre Malibu property. While it's being built, teams will play nearby next yr within the concrete stadium that houses the departing A's. It marks the Roots' return to Oakland after two years in Hayward.

“We look forward to seeing this completed as quickly as possible,” team president Lindsay Barenz said in an announcement to this news organization supporting town’s acquisition of the properties.

The path so far involved a series of convoluted twists and turns, highlighting the issue of two different governments owning real estate together.

Months of negotiations between the 2 corporations and the Roots resulted within the agencies disagreeing on how much the sites were price.

The city also rejected previous offers from the county to easily swap the properties, which might have left the Malibu property within the county's hands while town owned the Raiders site.

“I guess when it was originally set up there were benefits and perks,” Supervisor Nate Miley, chairman of the county board, said in an interview. “I feel over the past 20 or 30 years it has develop into clear that the negotiations between each corporations haven’t served the general public thoroughly.

Discussions over a resolution seemed to be stalled Tuesday at a gathering of county supervisors until Leigh Hanson, chief of staff to Mayor Sheng Thao, suggested that town buy each of the county's shares outright. The supervisors were mostly open-minded.

Oakland is counting on proceeds from the sale of the Raiders' property to assist offset a historic budget deficit that threatens city officials with drastic cuts – possibly even layoffs.

Perhaps essentially the most complicated real estate partnership between Oakland and Alameda County is their shared share of the Coliseum property, which incorporates the stadium, the sector and the massive car parking zone in between.

The county sold its share of the complex to the A's in 2019 for $85 million, while town recently entered exclusive negotiations with a development group to sell its share for $115 million.

That company, African-American Sports and Entertainment Group, is currently negotiating with the A's to purchase back their ownership shares. Officials on each side of those talks declined to comment on the small print, citing a confidentiality agreement.

Both city and county officials have supported an agreement on this front. Miley suggested it might alleviate among the public's “resentment” toward the baseball franchise leaving Oakland next yr.

The minor league roots, meanwhile, are participating within the US Open Cup, a historic tournament wherein each major and minor teams participate.

After defeating El Farolito Soccer Club, a San Francisco team owned by the favored Bay Area burrito chain of the identical name, the Roots' next opponent will probably be the San Jose Earthquakes — the key league team — on May 7. Franchise owned by none apart from John Fisher, who also owns the A's.

“Even if we don't get a win, a mere shout of 'F—John Fisher' or 'Sell the team' would be enough,” said Jorge Leon, an A's superfan who led fan activism efforts to secure the team's move impede . “But a 'dub' can be icing on the cake; it might be great.”