Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross is selling off another chunk of his sports empire, and this one comes with a record price tag. Jean Eric Salata has a deal in place to buy a 2.1% stake in the Dolphins and its affiliated businesses from Ross, a transaction that values the team at slightly more than $12.5 billion — a new high-water mark for a minority stake in an NFL franchise.
The deal was first reported by Sports Business Journal, which noted the valuation sits just above the $12.5 billion figure behind Ross’s last equity sale in March. According to Miami Herald, the Salata transaction reportedly includes pieces of Hard Rock Stadium, the F1 Hard Rock Miami Grand Prix, and the organization’s interest in the Miami Open tennis tournament — the same stadium that was retrofitted to host the tennis event. Ross has been majority owner of the Dolphins and stadium since 2009, when he paid $1.1 billion to acquire the team from Wayne H. Huizenga.
Who Is Jean Eric Salata
Salata is a Chilean billionaire financier and chairman of EQT AB, the Swedish investment firm that in 2022 acquired Baring Private Equity Asia, the firm he founded in Hong Kong. Forbes puts his net worth at $8.4 billion, per the same Sports Business Journal report. He now joins a growing list of outside investors Ross has brought into his holdings in recent years.
This marks the third time in less than three years that Ross has reduced his ownership stake in the Dolphins, the Herald’s report notes. In March, Ross sold 10% of Ross Sports & Entertainment to Xiaomi co-founder Lin Bin, making Lin the top minority shareholder of Ross’s sports holdings — though Front Office Sports has separately reported that Lin’s purchase was a 1% stake acquired at the same $12.5 billion valuation, a discrepancy that remains unresolved between the two accounts. Before that, in December 2024, Ross sold 10% to Ares Management and a combined 3% stake to Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai and Nets minority owner Oliver Weisberg, in deals that valued the team at $8.1 billion.
Why Ross Keeps Selling Slices of His Empire
Ross has said he uses Ross Sports & Entertainment, along with his Dolphins ownership, as collateral for loans that fund real estate projects, the Herald reports. He has placed RSE’s own valuation between $10 billion and $13 billion, depending on the estimate, and has claimed he was once offered close to $15 billion for the entity. Despite the steady drip of minority sales, Ross has said he has no interest in selling his majority stake in the franchise.
The Dolphins currently carry an estimated valuation of $10.4 billion according to Forbes, as cited by Front Office Sports, while Sports Business Journal pegs the average of all public estimates of the team’s enterprise value at $10.59 billion. For comparison, the record for an outright control sale of an NFL team is the $9.6 billion Vinod Khosla’s group paid for the Seahawks in August, and across all sports the top control sale is the $12.5 billion paid for the Lakers that same month. The Dolphins join the Patriots, Chargers, Bills and Browns among NFL teams that have sold ownership stakes to private equity, per Front Office Sports.
A Possible Deal for the Miami Grand Prix
Separately, Ross is in advanced talks to sell a 20% stake in Formula One’s Miami Grand Prix to private equity firm Otro Capital, according to the Front Office Sports report. No deal has been finalized, and Ross does not plan to sell the entire race. The Grand Prix has posted five consecutive sellouts and has expanded from a single-day race into a weeklong event spanning Miami and South Florida, the outlet reports, while F1’s overall revenue climbed from $3.2 billion in 2023 to $3.9 billion in 2025, according to a figure cited by Yahoo Sports.
Ross has framed the string of sales as part of estate planning, saying he is selling RSE shares to reduce inheritance taxes for his daughters, Jennifer Ross and Kimberly Ross, who are expected to inherit the Dolphins franchise after his death. “We’re keeping it in the family,” Ross has said. Kimberly Ross’s husband, Dan Sillman, who has worked for Ross since 2018 — before marrying into the family — was named CEO of RSE in August and was reportedly the driving force behind hiring general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and head coach Jeff Hafley.
The NFL’s finance committee reportedly approved the Salata transaction last month, and league owners are expected to take it up at their meeting in New York City next week. Ross turned 86 in May, and each new minority sale has added fresh scrutiny to how his sprawling sports and entertainment holdings will eventually pass to the next generation.
