Bloomberg Talks · Sep 23, 2026
With David Rubenstein, Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of The Carlyle Group, Owner of the Baltimore Orioles
NFL teams now sell for more than $10 billion, and David Rubenstein said that price is the reason private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds are buying into American sports.
Buyers of teams have gone from millionaires to billionaires to institutions. Rubenstein, who co-founded a private equity firm and owns a baseball team, said funds hold only minority stakes today and that outright control of a major American franchise could come later.
"So, for example, NFL franchises, which are now worth $10 billion plus, very few individuals can write a check that can buy a team for $10 billion."
David Rubenstein, co-founder and co-chairman of The Carlyle Group, on Bloomberg Talks, bought the Baltimore Orioles and chaired the Kennedy Center board for 14 years. His new book, Inside the Owner's Box, collects his interviews with other team owners.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it.
Here are the 8 moments that matter.
Key Takeaways
NFL teams are now worth $10B or more, beyond what most individual buyers can pay
Control of a major US team by a fund has not happened yet, and he said it could
The NFL already lets certain private equity firms buy minority stakes
The owners he interviewed are more interested in winning than in making money
He bought the Orioles to help downtown Baltimore, and said the team has not done as well on the field as he would like
He gave the Kennedy Center more than $100M and wants it run as a nonpartisan arts center again
Republicans may struggle to hold both houses of Congress in the midterms, going by the Cook Political Report's polling
1. A Book For Bob Barnett
The interview opened with a host pointing out that the book's index cites the Boston Red Sox once, on page 61. He then asked about the dedication, to the Washington lawyer Robert Barnett, who represented both the host's family and Rubenstein.
Rubenstein said Barnett was a friend from law school he had known for about 50 years, and that Barnett represented him on every book he wrote.
Barnett built a practice around public figures' book deals
Bob developed a practice where he represented former presidents of the United States, senators, secretaries of state in getting book deals or media deals.
David Rubenstein
Barnett died of cancer about a year ago, which Rubenstein called "a real loss for people in Washington, D.C."
2. Winning Over Money
A second host listed some of the owners in the book: Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots, Ted Leonsis of the Washington Capitals and the Wizards, and Joe Tsai of the Brooklyn Nets, a classmate of the host at Lawrenceville. He asked what they had in common.
Rubenstein said "very few owners actually as children expected to be owners." Most wanted to be athletes, until they learned their athletic skills fell short.
The people who become owners care most about winning
And then the owners that actually become owners, the people that become owners, they're really more obsessed with winning than they are with making money.
David Rubenstein
He wrote the book partly because, when he was becoming an owner himself, he looked for books on what the job was like and found "relatively few owner books."
The book doubles as his own ownership story
And so I thought if I could interview other owners, I would get a sense of why they became owners, and I would give my own story about why I became an owner of the Baltimore Orioles, my hometown baseball team.
David Rubenstein
3. $10B Teams, Outside Money
The second host put it to Rubenstein that team ownership had moved from millionaires to billionaires and now to institutions. He cited the Los Angeles Dodgers, the NFL's decision to allow private equity firms minority stakes, and corporate ownership of English Premier League clubs, and asked where it goes next.
Prices have outgrown individual buyers
Well, the reason this is happening is in part because the values of franchises are going up so much that very few individuals can buy a team.
David Rubenstein
His example was the NFL, where franchises are "now worth $10 billion plus." The league now lets "certain private equity firms buy up to 10%," he said.
Sovereign funds are in too, for now as minority holders
Other leagues allow sovereign wealth funds to invest, all in minority stakes.
David Rubenstein
Control of a major American franchise by a private equity firm or a sovereign wealth fund is the next step, and he said "that could happen down the road."
4. Kraft's 6 Super Bowls
The first host called Inside the Owner's Box the sports book of the year. He read a passage from it about a father of limited means who ran a small dry goods business, led all the synagogues of Massachusetts for 12 years and never watched TV. He then asked what Rubenstein learned from Kraft.
Rubenstein said Kraft was born in Boston, played football at Columbia University and built a packaging business. An opportunity came to buy the stadium the football team played in, and he later bought the team.
No owner in the recent era has matched his Super Bowl record
And then he won six Super Bowls. He's now been to 11 Super Bowls. And I think in the recent era, nobody's been to as many Super Bowls and nobody's won as many Super Bowls.
David Rubenstein
Kraft also owns the New England Revolution, Boston's men's soccer team. And he had Tom Brady.
Brady was a sixth-round pick
He drafted in the sixth round, but later became, I guess, the greatest quarterback of all time.
David Rubenstein
5. Why He Bought The Orioles
The first host, citing page 57, asked whether Rubenstein had brought Pete Alonso to the Orioles. Rubenstein did not take up the Alonso question and spoke instead about why he bought the team.
He bought the team for the city
Well, I bought the Orioles in part because I wanted to help my hometown of Baltimore.
David Rubenstein
Baltimore was a bigger, livelier city when he was growing up and has "had some challenges" since, he said. He felt he had given less to Baltimore than to other places, and hoped that reviving the team would help downtown and the city generally.
Results on the field have lagged
So far, I haven't been as successful in the field as I would like, but I've enjoyed the experience.
David Rubenstein
He tells fans who ask for autographs or selfies that he is not a player. When an eight-year-old asks, he signs, though he doubted the autograph would sell on eBay "for more than a penny or two." The first host added that Rubenstein sits a few rows back at Camden Yards rather than in a private box, near the dugout, in a hat.
6. No Call On A Work Stoppage
The second host asked whether Major League Baseball would have a work stoppage next year. Rubenstein declined to predict one.
Owners have left the talks to the commissioner
I think the commissioner has convinced all owners that the best thing we can do is let the commissioner and his team try to negotiate a deal.
David Rubenstein
He gave his reason for saying no more: "So I think rather than get myself in trouble and get banned from baseball, I'm going to say we'll just see what the negotiators come up with."
7. Make It Nonpartisan Again
The first host said he had been watching The Americans, a TV series from about 13 years ago set in Washington, and noticed the Kennedy Center in a shot of the skyline. With the center now at the heart of a political fight, he asked Rubenstein what the best outcome would be.
His standing on the question
I think I gave the Kennedy Center more than $100 million in philanthropic contributions, and I want the Kennedy Center to thrive.
David Rubenstein
He chaired the board for 14 years and sat on it for 20. The center was set up as a bipartisan, nonpartisan performing arts center and a living memorial to President Kennedy, he said, "and that's what it should be."
He wants it returned to that purpose
And I'm very hopeful that at some point we can return it to a nonpartisan, bipartisan performing arts center that everybody wants to go to and perform at.
David Rubenstein
8. A Hard Midterm For The GOP
The first host cited an essay Charlie Cook wrote the day before for the Cook Political Report, which the host called scathing about the Democratic Party's failure to organize for the midterms, and asked what the Democrats need to do. Rubenstein answered with history instead.
The usual midterm loss
The midterm elections, traditionally, a president loses about 25 House seats and about two or three Senate seats.
David Rubenstein
The one precedent for the current situation, he said, is a president serving a second, non-consecutive term: Grover Cleveland in the late 1800s.
Cleveland's party took the largest House loss on record, by his count
He lost 133 seats in the House, the greatest loss ever. Now, I don't know whether anything like that could happen again.
David Rubenstein
Holding both houses will be hard, he said
But I suspect that it will be difficult for the Republicans to hold on to both houses in this midterm election based on the polling data that I've seen from the Cook Report and other places.
David Rubenstein
Bonus Insights
The Orioles had a make-up game that night
Asked whether he was going to the Orioles-Yankees game at Yankee Stadium, Rubenstein said the team was instead playing Toronto at Camden Yards that night, a game rained out earlier, and would face the Yankees after the Baltimore series.
The hosts on the other owners
After Rubenstein left, the first host called the book's interviews with other owners "piercing," and the second host said it covers owners across bigger and smaller sports, from Kraft to Tsai to Leonsis.
Rubenstein's bottom line is that team prices have outgrown individual buyers, so funds will keep taking minority stakes and could one day take control, while the people who do buy teams are after wins more than returns.
Products, Companies & Tools Mentioned
Baltimore Orioles (Rubenstein's hometown team, which he bought to help revive downtown Baltimore)
New England Patriots and New England Revolution (Robert Kraft's football and soccer teams; six Super Bowl wins from 11 appearances)
NFL (Franchises "now worth $10 billion plus"; certain private equity firms may buy minority stakes)
Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards (Ted Leonsis's teams, whose owner is interviewed in the book)
Brooklyn Nets (Joe Tsai's team, whose owner is interviewed in the book)
Los Angeles Dodgers and the Premier League (The host's examples of institutional and corporate team ownership)
Major League Baseball (Rubenstein would not predict a work stoppage, leaving talks to the commissioner)
The Kennedy Center (He chaired its board for 14 years and gave it more than $100 million)
Cook Political Report (The source of Charlie Cook's essay and of the polling Rubenstein cited on the midterms)
Books & Resources Mentioned
Inside the Owner's Box: Conversations on Power and Leadership in Sports – David M. Rubenstein (His new book of interviews with team owners, dedicated to Robert Barnett)
The Americans (The TV series set in Washington that prompted the host's Kennedy Center question)
Listen to the full interview
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