Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro, the top executives at TKO Group Holdings, are buying personal minority stakes in the Las Vegas Raiders, marking the first NFL ownership move for both wrestling-industry leaders.
Per Variety and a Sports Business Journal report, Emanuel will own 1.4% of the Raiders and Shapiro will hold a 0.6% interest in the team once the deal closes later this month. The Durban-led investment group, which includes Emanuel and Shapiro, along with Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell and Blackstone global head of private equity Joseph Baratta, will collectively acquire 25% of the franchise. The deal values the Raiders at $9.9 billion, per CNBC reporting.
Egon Durban, the CEO of private equity firm Silver Lake (which controls both TKO and WME), is increasing his existing minority stake in the team to 22%. Real estate developer Michael Meldman is going up to 12.9%. Baratta will own 1.7%. Mark Davis, son of the late Raiders owner Al Davis, remains the controlling shareholder.
The cross-investment aligns the leadership of TKO (UFC, WWE, PBR, On Location, IMG) with the ownership group of the NFL franchise that plays at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, NV. Allegiant Stadium hosted WrestleMania 41 in 2025 and WrestleMania 42 in 2026 in back-to-back WWE marquee events.
Shapiro has long-standing NFL ties separate from the new Raiders investment. He acquired the rights to Monday Night Football in 2005 while running programming and production at ESPN, and later created the NFL Honors. He led the Endeavor Group acquisition of premium hospitality business On Location from Bruin and RedBird Capital Partners. On Location is the NFL’s exclusive hospitality provider. Shapiro is also a minority owner of MLS’s Los Angeles FC. Emanuel and Shapiro are longtime business partners at WME and TKO.
The Raiders’ investment is also their first cross into NFL franchise ownership specifically. Emanuel is the executive chairman of WME Group and the CEO of TKO. Shapiro is president and managing partner of WME Group and president and COO of TKO.
The Raiders’ investment is structurally separate from TKO and WME. Both Emanuel and Shapiro are treating the stakes as personal investments rather than through any TKO or WME corporate vehicle, with the spokesperson confirming the transaction’s individual nature.
The Raiders moved to Las Vegas from Oakland in 2020 and have played at Allegiant Stadium since the venue opened that same year. Al Davis owned the team from 1972 until his death in 2011, when control transferred to his son Mark Davis. The team was founded in Oakland in 1960 as a charter member of the AFL.
