Media moguls Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro are now NFL owners.
The WME Group and TKO executives are each buying personal stakes in the Las Vegas Raiders, a rep for the moguls says. The stakes, which are expected to close this month, will be less than 10 percent, joining an ownership group that includes Mark Davis, Egon Durban (whose Silver Lake controls both TKO and WME), Michael Meldman, Michael Dell and Tom Brady.
Shapiro is no stranger to the NFL, having brought Monday Night Football to ESPN when he was leading programming and production there, and he spearheaded creation of NFL Honors, the awards show that has become a staple of the season.
Still, ownership of an NFL team (even minority ownership) is the ultimate prize for anyone invested in the sports space.
Shapiro and Emanuel are already power players in the sports business through TKO, which owns the UFC, WWE and PBR, as well as the On Location hospitality business. Their MARI holding company, meanwhile, owns the Miami Open and Madrid Open tennis tournaments.
Shapiro also owns a stake in LAFC.
Emanuel is CEO of TKO, executive chairman of WME Group and the founder and principal investor in MARI, while Shapiro is president and COO of TKO, president and managing partner of WME Group, and principal investor and board member at MARI.
