When both music mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and Colin Kaepernick took to social media to show their interest in purchasing the Carolina Panthers earlier this week, it was taken with a grain of salt.
Despite being worth nearly a billion, Combs doesn’t have the financial capital himself to take on a major role in purchasing a Panthers franchise that’s worth an estimated $2.3 billion and will sell for much more than that.
Meanwhile, Kaepernick remains a free agent after starting the National Anthem protests in the summer of 2016. He’s in the midst of a suit against the NFL, claiming team owners have colluded against him in a potential return to the league.
Despite all the background noise, it seems that Combs and Kaepernick are legitimately serious about putting together a group to buy the Panthers from disgraced owner Jerry Richardson.
“In a sign that Sean “Diddy” Combs is serious about making a push to buy the Carolina Panthers, the hip-hop mogul is moving to set meetings with potential investors in hopes of shaping a prospective ownership group,” Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports reported Tuesday.
But it gets better.
“Those efforts are expected to include the involvement of Colin Kaepernick, who had a lengthy call with Combs to discuss the former NFL quarterback’s role in forming an ownership group,” Robinson’s report continued.
Realistically, Combs has the money to potentially be the controlling partner in any ownership group. For his part, Kaepernick has the connections to bring on some other big-money partners to make this work. It really isn’t an unlikely scenario, at least from those perspectives.
Kaepernick’s connections could make this a real possibility.
“According to a source close to the quarterback, Kaepernick has already begun reaching out to a handful of business leaders, venture capitalists and sports icons to discuss an ownership group,” the report read.
Despite being out of the NFL since last season, Kaepernick’s brand is there. His protest did not end with the 2016 campaign. And in reality, he’s a bigger name now than he was before. Combs’ relationships with some of the biggest power brokers the entertainment industry has to offer is also a major factor in this.
It remains to be seen if Richardson would even get into a dialogue about selling the Panthers to a group headed by Combs and backed by Kaepernick. It’s also questionable as to whether other NFL owners would approve said deal.
But in today’s NFL landscape, money talks. If owners believe that an entertainment mogul heading the Panthers franchise would speak well to their bottom line, it’s not unrealistic to believe a sale could go through.
At the very least, this is something to keep in mind as Richardson looks to sell the franchise he founded 20-plus years ago.