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Josh Harris says you likely won’t see more sports assets going public as values soar
Washington Commanders managing partner Josh Harris (L) signs a Commanders helmet while joined by Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (C) and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (R) during a news conference on construction of a new Commanders stadium in Washington, D.C., on April 28, 2025.
Win McNamee | Getty Images
Over the last decade, private equity investor Josh Harris has built one of the largest conglomerates in sports.
Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which he co-founded with Blackstone executive David Blitzer in 2017, owns majority stakes across many of the most valuable sports leagues in the world. That includes stakes in the NFL’s Washington Commanders, the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, the NHL’s New Jersey Devils and the Premier League’s Crystal Palace. Earlier this year, the group paid a $250 million franchise fee for a Philadelphia WNBA expansion team, expected to begin play in 2030.
That has quickly made HBSE one of the most valuable sports ownership groups in the world. In fact, it ranked third in CNBC’s 2025 Most Valuable Sports Empires list at a value of $14.58 billion.
But those continued rising valuations raise a question that harkens back to Harris’ time as a private equity executive: Will HBSE, or other sports teams and large ownership conglomerates, start to look toward going public?
“I don’t think so,” Harris told CNBC’s Scott Wapner at CNBC Sport and Boardroom’s Game Plan conference in Santa Monica, California, on Tuesday.
“When you think about IPOs and sports assets being public so far, they’ve been valued more highly as private assets,” Harris said. “You haven’t seen the public valuations exceed the private valuations; therefore, people have tended to keep them private.”
Madison Square Garden’s sports assets, which include the New York Knicks and Rangers, are among the only U.S. sports teams to be owned by public companies.
Harris said that if you look at those instances, “they generally trade below their intrinsic value, and they haven’t been embraced as much as we would like.”
One big consideration has kept most clubs off the public markets, Harris said.
“People have tended to keep them private because ultimately as someone who is running a team, you want to be able to spend to win,” he said. “You want to be able to take a very long-term perspective, and the public markets haven’t always embraced that.”
Harris notched a massive win for the Commanders this year, striking a $3.7 billion deal to relocate the team from its current stadium in Landover, Maryland, to Washington, D.C., on the grounds of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium.
“We’re not going to see the profits from that for years and years later,” he said.
Most teams, especially in the NFL, are intergenerational assets, and leagues have opened up new ways to raise money. Last year the league voted to approve select private equity firms to take minority stakes in NFL franchises.
Harris said that approach has been positive so far.
“Many of the funds are long-date funds, and they don’t have the typical things that private equity usually has, like control,” he said. “That allows for owners such as myself to think very long term, … They know over the long run they’re betting on the city, the fan support and the league growth.”
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The BSE Sensex is trading higher by 371 points, or 0.47%, at 81,090.24, while the NSE Nifty rises by 70 points to trade above 24,850 at 24,889.25.
Stock Market Today.
Market Updates Today: A day after the market crash following the Budget’s provision to hike Securities Transaction Tax (STT), the domestic equity market on Monday saw heightened volatility. After opening nearly flat, the NSE Nifty rose to the day’s high, then touched the day’s low before sharply recovering to trade at the day’s high of 25,093.
As of 3:16 pm, the BSE Sensex surged by 932 points, or up 1.13%, to 81,641.87 in the afternoon trade and the NSE Nifty rose by 267 points, or up 1.07%, to trade above 25,000 at 25,093.27. After opening nearly flat, the NSE Nifty rose to the day’s high, then touched the day’s low before sharply recovering to trade at the day’s high of 25,093.27.
Among the 30 Sensex shares, 25 stocks were trading in the green. Among the top gainers were PowerGrid, Adani Ports, BEL, Reliance, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, and IndiGo, rising by up to 7.91%. The laggards were Axis Bank, Infosys, Titan, TCS, and Trent, falling by up to 1.97%.
After opening nearly flat, at around 9:30 am, the BSE Sensex jumped by 350 points to 81,112.03 in the opening trade, while the NSE Nifty rose 91 points to trade above the 24,900 level at 24,910.85. However, the benchmarks gave up all gains and declined to day’s low amid heavy volatility.
Aakash Shah, technical research analyst at Choice Equity Broking Private Ltd, said, “Near-term sentiment remains cautious despite some support from domestic technical indicators. The broader market direction will largely be influenced by global equity cues, crude oil price movements, and institutional fund flows.”
On Sunday, the Nifty saw an aggressive sell-off after the Budget 2026 announcement to hike STT, plunging nearly 870 points from 25,440 to an intraday low of 24,571, before staging a partial recovery to close at 24,825.
“A strong bearish candle was formed, with the index closing decisively below the 200-day EMA, indicating a deterioration in trend strength. Immediate resistance is placed at 24,950–25,000, while key support lies in the 24,650-24,700 zone. The RSI slipped to 31, reflecting oversold conditions, while India VIX surged 10.73% to 15.09, highlighting elevated market volatility,” Shah said.
On Sunday, February 1, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 588 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) also remained net sellers, offloading shares worth Rs 682 crore, adding to the pressure on the market.
V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments Ltd, said, “Yesterday’s market selloff resulting in 495 point crash in Nifty was a knee-jerk reaction to the sharp increase in STT on F&O trades. This was not a revenue-raising measure, but a decision to discourage retail traders from complex F&O trading, in which 92% of them were losing money. This decision is in the interest of retail investors. But this decision impacted the market sentiments, which were already impacted by the decision to make no changes in the LTCGs tax, which a section of the market was expecting rather unrealistically.”
It is important to understand that the Budget is a growth-oriented Budget with fiscal prudence. The 10% nominal GDP growth projected in the Budget is achievable and has the potential to deliver around 15% earnings growth in FY27. The market will soon start discounting this positive. But it is possible that FIIs may continue to sell impacting the market. Retail investors should keep their cool and remain invested and continue to invest systematically. A significant upturn in the market may take time; perhaps a retreat from AI trade globally. We don’t know when this will happen. But we know that an earnings rebound is imminent in response to this growth oriented Budget. That is a clear positive, he added.
February 02, 2026, 09:34 IST
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Gold and silver prices have continued to drop sharply in a “brutal” sell-off after hitting record highs in recent weeks.
The precious metals began falling on Friday in response to US President Donald Trump’s nomination for the incoming chairman of the Federal Reserve.
His choice for former Fed governor Kevin Warsh to replace current chairman Jerome Powell when his term ends in May soothed some investor nerves, which boosted the US dollar but saw appetite for safe-haven investments gold and silver slump in response.
Gold and silver suffered their worst trading days for decades on Friday and were down heavily again on Monday, with spot prices off by another 7% and 11% respectively at one stage.
Silver had plunged by nearly 30% on Friday and gold dropped over 9% in its worst one-day drop since 1983.
Gold and silver had been enjoying a record breaking rally as investors sought refuge amid global geopolitical uncertainty, conflict and tariff woes.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, said: “The sell-off has been far more brutal than I, and many, expected.”
He added: “For silver, the rally on the way up was faster than gold’s, so the correction on the way down is faster too.”
Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, added: “If the sell off continues, then gold and silver are at risk of eroding their losses for the year so far.
“The historic move lower in silver prices has not stemmed a fall at the start of this week.
“Traders have not yet found a level that they are happy to buy the dips, and the timing of Chinese Lunar New Year in mid-February could accelerate the sell off, as Chinese traders reduce risk ahead of the holiday.”
UK and US stock markets are expected to open in the red on Monday, as the gold and silver rout has a knock on effect on mining giants, while Brent oil was also 5% lower.
Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Mining stocks are likely to feel the heat as metal prices scramble to find a floor.
“Oil prices are also trending the wrong way for investors in commodity-focused companies.”
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