NFL Succession Planning/Estate Tax

[THE PISTONS]

(03-06-2025, 11:04 AM)pally Wrote: While we know that Mike is the controlling owner, we don't know how much of the team he individually owns.  His brother Robin had 4 children, how many shares do they own.  Pete, afaik, didn't have any children.  Did he leave his shares to his nieces and nephews or to his brother?  There is still at least 1 minority owner outside the family.

I would guess that the Bengals ownership looks very similar to the Bears with the shares divided among various family members and Mike controlling the votes.  When he passes Katie will take over that role.

Yes. Likely. But, there will be a tax bill that needs paid.

So what kind of estate tax would someone owe? Well, it depends on who passes away and who owns what shares and how things are setup and maybe more factors. Without being able to see the succession plan, it's impossible to say.


The NFL franchise values in billions sound great, until you consider that taxes paid in this situation are based upon them.

I asked ChatGPT and basically it says that you could pay up to 40% of the value of the franchise...which is $4.5 to $5 billion. (That's likely worst case scenario as a team wouldn't have 1 owner, but ownership split.) But, the tax bill could still be hundreds of millions of dollars.