Stephen Ross says he’s turned down offers of close to $15 billion for the Dolphins
Dolphins owner Stephen Ross says he has turned down offers of close to $15 billion to sell the team.
Ross said he could make a fortune from selling the Dolphins, but he doesn’t see anything better to invest his money in than the NFL.
“I don’t think there’s a better asset,” Ross told Bloomberg. “I know what I’ve been offered, numbers you wouldn’t believe . . . Close to $15 billion. Pretty high numbers. But you say, ‘Where would you put the money? Then what would I do with it?'”
The 85-year-old Ross says he plans to keep the team in his family, and that his son-in-law, Daniel Sillman, will run the Dolphins after him. Sillman is currently the CEO of Relevent Sports Group, a sports marketing and media rights firm that Ross founded. Sillman worked for Ross before he married Ross’s daughter.
Ross sold 10 percent of the franchise to the private equity firm Ares, but Ross said he did that deal only because it left him and his family in control of the team.
“If I sell 10, 20 percent I have total control,” Ross said.
Pro sports franchise values keep increasing, and a $15 billion sale would be the biggest in the history of sports. But Ross doesn’t sound interested in giving up the Dolphins, at any price.
