Private equity rule passed by 31-1 vote, with only the Bengals opposed [Video]

On Tuesday — the same day all rosters reduced to 53 players for 2024 — the NFL adopted a rule allowing limited private equity investment in teams.

And hardly anyone cares.

Hell, I barely care. It’s a sport-business story, dealing with a pretty boring and mundane aspect of sports business. Most teams have a group of minority owners who hold a slice of equity less than what it takes to control the franchise. Now, private equity funds can buy non-voting shares of NFL franchises. Big deal.

The deeper question is whether this new door will lead to others. The maximum percentage of a team that can be owned by a private-equity fund is 10 percent. Earlier this summer, Commissioner Roger Goodell didn’t rule out the possibility of increasing that, in time.

The biggest potential long-term implication becomes whether the NFL would ever allow institutional or corporate majority ownership of teams other than the Packers, …