Ice Miller partner Steven Thayer was quoted in the Crain Currency article “What happens when family money and fund money buy a team together.”

The article included:

The families answering that call step into a structure with a built-in flaw. “Private equity can only own a minority stake. It can’t be a controlling owner in most of these franchises,” said Steven Thayer, a partner at Ice Miller, a law firm headquartered in Indianapolis, who builds these vehicles for family offices. Fifteen years ago, he said, the industry’s conferences were about direct investment. “Now co-investments are a big thing.” And co-investing with a fund forces two conflicting timelines into a single legal framework.

Thayer’s version is blunter. “The cautionary tale is illiquidity, and if you do have to sell it, it could be at a discount,” he said. A minority stake in an entity you cannot control and cannot exit on your own schedule will always trade below its mark. And the league sits on top of all of it — every beneficial owner has to be approved, the NFL imposes a six-year minimum hold and the leagues cap institutional ownership at 20 to 30 percent of a club.

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