FIFA kills $4.2B private equity deal after UEFA boycott threat, raising questions about sports finance future

FIFA proposed selling a chunk of its most valuable asset, World Cup commercial rights, to private equity investors. Two days later, the plan was dead. The governing body of global football floated the creation of a new commercial subsidiary called FIFA Forward Enterprise on July 29, aiming to sell a 20-21% equity stake at a $20 billion valuation. The target raise was $4.2 billion, roughly the GDP of Bermuda. By July 31, after UEFA and CONCACAF threatened to boycott FIFA events entirely, the whole thing was scrapped. The deal that lasted 48 hours Here’s what FIFA President Gianni Infantino tried to pull off. The FFE would have managed commercial rights for the World Cup and Club World Cup, essentially packaging football’s crown jewels into an investable vehicle. J.P. Morgan was advising on the capital raise, and Thrive Eternal, a firm potentially linked to Joshua Kushner, emerged as a possible anchor investor. To sweeten the deal for member associations, FIFA offered each of its 211 national federations an immediate $20 million payment for backing the plan. Quick math: that’s over $4.2 billion in sweetener money alone, a figure that tells you exactly how much was at stake. UEFA was ...