Billionaire Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross amazed at NFL valuations

“I’m looking at now to monetize a portion of it,” the billionaire real estate developer said at the FII Priority event in Miami Beach. “I never dreamed we’d be so fast at the valuations that are out there today.”

A Miami Dolphins stake sale could surpass the $6 billion a group led by investor Josh Harris paid for the Washington Commanders last year, Bloomberg News reported. 

His comments confirm earlier reports he was looking to sell a minority stake of his sports empire, which along with the Dolphins includes the Hard Rock Stadium and the F1 Miami Grand Prix. Citadel founder Ken Griffin is in talks to purchase it, Bloomberg reported in November. 

Ross, 83, paid $1 billion for 95% of the franchise in 2009, while also pouring $730 million into renovating the Hard Rock Stadium and surrounding areas. He has other sports ventures including a soccer commercial rights agency, which has a joint venture with LaLiga.

“The community wants an owner who wants to win and will spend the resources to bring that,” said Ross, who’s worth $8.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Ross made his comments at a two-day conference backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which holds about $700 billion of sovereign money and is a key investor across the globe. Topics ranged from AI and real estate to sports, and attendees ran the gamut of investors, politicians and celebrities, including Gwyneth Paltrow. 

Minutes before Ross went on stage, Josh Harris said he didn’t overpay for the Commanders, at the time the biggest sports transaction in history.

“People will look back at the purchase of the Commanders and say ‘wow that was bargain’,” said Harris, who runs 26North Partners and previously was a co-founder of Apollo Global Management Inc.

A day earlier, FIFA President Gianni Infantino made a last-minute appearance at the event from Dubai to talk up the 2026 World Cup, as the world’s largest sport event heads to Saudi Arabia in 2034. 

“This year there’s a lot of sports because frankly there’s a lot of money in sports,” said Richard Attias, chief executive of the FII Institute, organizer of the Miami Beach event. 

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