

Legendary New York Giants quarterback and two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning has backed out of a bid for a potential ownership stake in the franchise, saying that even a small percentage of team ownership has become too expensive for him and presents potential conflicts of interest that could affect his current work. The Giants announced in February that they were exploring the potential sale of a minority, “non-controlling stake” in the organization, which had been linked to Manning as well as fellow franchise great Michael Strahan.
Speaking to CNBC, Manning shared that the valuation of even a small stake in the franchise is out of his price range. Per CNBC, the Giants franchise as a whole is valued at $7.5 billion as the price tag for even a small part of NFL team ownership continues to grow.
“Basically, it’s too expensive for me,” Manning said. “I mean, these numbers are getting very big … A one percent stake is something valued at $10 billion. It turned into a very big number. I love the Giants, I think it’s deserving of that valuation, and there’ll be people that want to go for it. I was kind of along (for the) ride.”
Manning also offered practical reasons for backing out of an ownership bid, pointing out the conflicts of interest it would present and their effect on his ability to do the work he has pursued since retiring at the end of the 2019 season. In addition to being an active team alum, Manning also works for the Giants in a business operations and fan engagement role on top of his work in broadcasting and coaching.
“There’s some complications with the fact that I’m doing broadcasting. I wouldn’t be able to talk to the players. I coach in the Pro Bowl, I do a high school football camp where college guys come. There was gonna be a lot of conflicts, and it was gonna affect my day job. So I kind of had to pull out of the Giants deal.”
The Giants have been owned by the Mara family since their inception in 1925, and currently hold a 50% ownership stake in the team alongside the Tisch family, which bought half of the team that had formerly belonged to Tim Mara in 1991. Compared to other NFL ownership groups, independently wealthy owners and private equity firms who have entered the league, the Mara family is unique in that their wealth is tied to the Giants franchise. By comparison, the Tisch family took an ownership stake in the franchise after having made their fortune largely through co-founding the Loews Corporation.
While Manning will not join the Mara & Tisch families in the Giants’ ownership group, his investment portfolio does include some sports teams already: Manning is a minority owner in Gotham FC of the National Women’s Soccer League as well as TGL’s New York golf team.
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