TKO executives Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro are buying minority ownership stakes in the Las Vegas Raiders.
Variety on Tuesday (May 19) wrote that a spokesperson for the two men, who are also top executives for the WME talent agency, confirmed they will take individual, personal stakes in the NFL team, and the deal is expected to be finalized before the end of the month.
TKO Group is the parent company of UFC and WWE. Emanuel serves as CEO and executive chairman of the company, while Shapiro is TKO’s
COO.
The New York Times reported they will acquire stakes of less than 10 percent, and Mark Davis — son of longtime Raiders owner Al Davis – will continue to the team’s majority owner.
Once the deal is finalized, it will mark the first time either Emanuel or Shapiro has invested in an NFL team.
In addition to the TKO executives, Michael Dell (founder of Dell Technologies) and Joseph Baratta of Blackstone are also buying stakes in the Raiders. Meanwhile, Egon Durban (CEO of the Silver Lake private-equity firm) and real estate developer Michael Meldman are both expanding their ownership shares in the team.
Shapiro recently made news for comments regarding criticism about WWE’s creative choices for WrestleMania 42. During an investors call earlier this month, he acknowledged “there will always be periodic fan dissatisfaction around creative execution, commercial load, and celebrity usage.”
He added: “We listen to all the feedback. We do not turn a deaf ear, but these are not new criticisms.”
Emanuel, who has been called (at least in part) the inspiration for the Ari Gold character on the hit HBO show Entourage, rose to notoriety as a powerful Hollywood agent. Among his clients is Pat McAfee, a fact that was referenced by CM Punk during a promo before WrestleMania 42.
“Pat MAGAfee, you buggy whip-armed, no-brained hillbilly. You think you can come here to the business, my business of pro wrestling, and run your mouth? Well, you just wrote a check that your narrow ass can’t cash,” Punk said on the April 6 episode of Raw.
He continued: “You wanna talk about ticket sales? Do me a favor, call up that agent that was foolish enough to shoehorn into this business and this show and tell him to lower the ticket prices.”
What do you think about the TKO executives dipping their toes in the NFL waters? Let us know in the comments.
