Tampa, FL: New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner speaks during a press conference regarding changes to the Yankees facial hair policy during spring training at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida on February 21, 2025. (Photo by Thomas A. Ferrara/Newsday RM via Getty Images)
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The New York Yankees have reached a massive new financing agreement that could reshape the financial structure surrounding one of baseball’s most valuable franchises.
A newly announced deal with Apollo Sports Capital brings an extraordinary amount of private capital into the organization, setting a new record for an MLB team’s valuation and revealing a quiet change in the rules for ownership that MLB made recently to little fanfare.
“The New York Yankees … announced a $2.6 billion financing agreement with Marc Rowan’s Apollo Sports Capital in a deal touted as fueling growth at the MLB giant and keeping the Steinbrenner family in control,” James Franey reported for the New York Post last month. “The agreement, which mixes credit and equity, marks one of the largest private capital infusions into a baseball franchise in recent years.”
New York Yankees Ownership Sale Reveals Change In MLB Rules
For years, MLB maintained a restriction on private-equity participation but the Yankees’ move has inadvertently revealed that the previous cap had been loosened recently.
“For a considerable period of time, Major League Baseball had a flat rule that no club could have more than 15% private equity ownership,” Forbes’ Maury Brown reported. “Without fanfare, this past summer MLB’s owners changed the amount of private equity clubs could have as part of ownership, aligning it closer to what is in the NBA, where the limit is 20%.”
The change provides an important backdrop for the Yankees’ agreement. Principal owner Hal Steinbrenner was able to bring in a significant amount of capital while retaining control of the team in direct response to the change and it could pave the way for more owners to do likewise.
The Steinbrenner family has controlled the Yankees since George Steinbrenner led a group that purchased the franchise from CBS in 1973. More than five decades later, the family remains in charge while opening the door to a significantly larger outside investment.
New York Yankees Valuation Surges To Historic High After Ownership Sale
Apollo Sports Capital operates as a permanent-capital platform of Apollo Global Management, giving the Yankees a financial partner with substantial resources and an expanding presence in professional sports.
The size of Apollo’s investment is also notable because of what it suggests about the Yankees’ underlying valuation.
“According to multiple reports, Apollo’s investment is based on a Yankees valuation in excess of $12 billion, which would be a staggering $3.5 billion over the current $8.5 billion Forbes valuation, and $2.6 billion over the Sportico valuation,” Brown reported.
That gap illustrates the extraordinary appreciation of major professional sports franchises and why private capital firms have become increasingly interested in the industry.
For the Yankees, the agreement creates additional financial flexibility without requiring the Steinbrenner family to surrender control. For MLB, it represents another example of how ownership structures are evolving as franchise values climb and institutional investors seek greater access to professional sports.
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