The San Francisco Giants have sold a stake in the franchise to a private equity group, the team announced Tuesday.
Sixth Street has purchased about 10 percent of the Giants with the team aiming to use the influx of capital to help pay for upgrades to the franchise’s 25-year-old stadium and other facilities, as well as the Mission Rock real estate development adjacent to the ballpark, The New York Times reported Tuesday morning.
“This new partnership allows us to further strengthen our franchise on the field and in the community,” Larry Baer, Giants President and CEO, said in a news release.
“This is our first significant investment in three decades and Greg Johnson and our ownership group are thrilled that Sixth Street believes, just as we do, in our strategic vision for our future as one of the world’s leading sports and entertainment franchises, as well as the important role our organization plays in uplifting San Francisco and the entire Bay Area.”
According to the release, Sixth Street manages “over $100 billion of assets and committed capital.” The group has invested in other major sports franchises including Bay FC of the National Women’s Soccer League, the San Antonio Spurs, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.
This is Sixth Street’s first investment in Major League Baseball. The most aggressive firm in MLB investments has been Arctos, which has previously acquired stakes in the Dodgers, Cubs, Red Sox, Astros, Padres and Giants. Arctos also has stakes in NBA franchises, including the Kings, Warriors, Sixers and Jazz.
The MLB has been as aggressive as any major sports league around opening up for investment in teams by private equity firms. Private equity companies can’t be majority owners but can own up to 30 percent of a team. Per DealBook, more than half of MLB teams have sold equity stakes to private equity firms.
Private equity firms investing in sports franchises have become a growing trend in recent years.
In 2024, NFL owners voted to allow private equity funds to buy up to a 10 percent stake in individual teams. Smaller leagues are much more open to PE firms taking controlling stakes; for example, Sixth Street owns the controlling interest in Bay FC.
The next frontier for PE investment in sports?
College sports. Florida State reportedly engaged in discussions with both Sixth Street and Arctos about investments in the Seminoles athletics program, but those talks fizzled out, per Sportico. Most notably, the Big Ten is taking a serious look at accepting investment from PE firms, a result that would turbo-charge the PE presence in college sports.
(Photo: Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images)
