List of current NFL franchise owners
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The NFL forbids corporations, religious groups, governments, and non-profit organizations from owning stakes in teams.{{cite web|url=http://www.nfl.com/static/content/public/static/html/careers/pdf/co_.pdf|title=Constitution and Bylaws of the National Football League|date=2006|publisher=National Football League|archive-date=2018-11-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113100214/http://www.nfl.com/static/content/public/static/html/careers/pdf/co_.pdf}} The NFL requires a controlling owner to hold at minimum a 30% stake in the team and forbids ownership groups of over 24 people; one team, the Green Bay Packers, is exempt from this under a grandfather clause and is owned by shareholders. The Houston Texans are also grandfathered in for their home county the Harris County, Texas, government which owns 5% of the team, as the rule forbidding governments from owning a team became effective in 2007. The NFL's constitution also forbids its owners from owning any other professional football teams, although an exception was made for teams from the now-defunct Arena Football League located in the NFL team's home market. In addition, the controlling owners of NFL teams were previously only permitted to own major league baseball, basketball and hockey teams if they were in the NFL team's home market, or were not located in other NFL cities.{{cite web |url = http://www.nfl.com/static/content/public/static/html/careers/pdf/co_.pdf |title = Constitution and Bylaws of the National Football League |year = 2006 |publisher = National Football League |access-date = August 29, 2016 |archive-date = September 9, 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150909075157/http://www.nfl.com/static/content/public/static/html/careers/pdf/co_.pdf |url-status = live }} Institutional investors were historically forbidden from purchasing stakes in NFL teams until an August 2024 rule change; that December, it approved the sale of portions of the Dolphins and Buffalo Bills to private equity firms.{{Cite web |last=Primack |first=Tim |last2=Baysinger |first2=Dan |date=2024-12-11 |title=Private equity buys into NFL's Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins |url=https://www.axios.com/2024/12/11/private-equity-nfl-buffalo-bills-miami-dolphins |access-date=2024-12-11 |website=Axios |language=en}}
Soccer has been exempt from these restrictions since 1982, when the league lost a lawsuit filed by the original NASL stemming from the investments of Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt and Elizabeth Robbie, the wife of Miami Dolphins founder Joe Robbie in NASL teams;{{cite court |litigants = North American Soccer League v. National Football League |vol = 670 |reporter = F.2d |opinion = 1249 |court = 2d Cir. |date = 1982 |url = http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/670/1249/118084/ |access-date = July 3, 2015 }} as a result, NFL owners have owned teams in MLS in other NFL markets. In October 2018, the NFL owners voted to relax the cross-ownership rule, allowing controlling NFL owners to own other professional teams within NFL markets outside their home market.{{cite news |last1 = Farmer |first1 = Sam |title = NFL owners vote to allow cross-ownership in cities with football teams |url = https://www.latimes.com/sports/nfl/la-sp-nfl-meetings-20181016-story.html |access-date = January 6, 2019 |work = Los Angeles Times |date = October 16, 2018 |archive-date = April 20, 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190420044702/https://www.latimes.com/sports/nfl/la-sp-nfl-meetings-20181016-story.html |url-status = live }} The league also informally requires prospective owners to have high liquidity in their assets and positive cash flow; having a majority of one's wealth invested in real estate is often grounds for rejection.{{cite web |url = https://wben.radio.com/articles/trumps-failed-bid-purchase-bills-mentioned-times-article |title = Trump's failed bid to purchase Bills mentioned in Times article |publisher = WBEN |date = March 19, 2019 |access-date = March 19, 2019 }}