Julia Koch and her family reached an agreement to buy a stake in the New York Giants, according to multiple sources familiar with the details. The deal is for 10% of the franchise and at a record valuation of more than $10 billion.

The previous record valuation for an LP transaction in the NFL was $8.8 billion for a 2% stake in the Chicago Bears. Mark Walter agreed to buy the Los Angeles Lakers in a deal that values the NBA team at $10 billion.

The deal was sent to the NFL last month for review by the finance committee and for background checks. It still requires approval by NFL owners.

Bloomberg was the first to report that Koch reached a deal to buy the stake but did not disclose the percentage bought or valuation.

The Giants are jointly owned by the Mara and Tisch families, who will maintain control of the franchise Each family is selling a 5% stake and will retain 45% after the deal closes. The deal does not include any path to control.

Moelis & Co., which was retained in February to run the sale process, declined to comment.

The purchase is the second big New York metro area sports team stake for the Koch family. Last year, Julia, alongside her three children—David Jr., Mary Julia and John—purchased 15% of BSE Global, which owns the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty and control of the Barclays Center. Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai retained control of BSE, which was valued at $6.1 billion in the deal.

Koch was married to late billionaire David Koch; when David died in 2019, she and her children inherited 42% of Koch, Inc. They are worth $79 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Former Giants star Michael Strahan and billionaire Marc Lasry had explored investing in the club, as Sportico reported in May. Eli Manning, a former teammate of Strahan’s, also held preliminary conversations about investing, but the two-time Super Bowl champ decided not to pursue due to conflicts with his other business holdings.

The Giants’ roots trace back a century, when Wellington Mara founded the team for a $500 fee to enter the league. The Tisch family joined the ownership group in 1991, buying half the team at a $150 million valuation.

The Giants have fallen on hard times on the field with an NFL-low 40 wins over the past eight seasons. They are still a historic brand, though, and their 2024 revenue was roughly $760 million—fifth highest in football—and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization topped $180 million.

In August, the Giants were valued at $10.25 billion, third in Sportico’s NFL team valuations, behind only the Dallas Cowboys ($12.8 billion) and Los Angeles Rams ($10.43 billion). The average team was worth $7.13 billion, double the average from 2021 ($3.5 billion). The Giants are also third among all global sports teams, with the NBA’s Golden State Warriors the only non-NFL team in the top seven.

Last year, the NFL became the final major sports league to approve investments from institutional investors, with a cap of up to 10% of a franchise. It set off a flurry of LP investments at sky-high valuations, but most of the buyers have been individuals or families. Before the Bears, the previous high was the May sale of 6.2% of the San Francisco 49ers to three families at a $8.6 billion price. The Eagles sold 8% to a pair of family investors at an $8.3 billion valuation. Individuals also purchased 3% of the Miami Dolphins ($8.1 billion), 10% of the Buffalo Bills ($5.8 billion) and 27% of the Los Angeles Chargers ($4 billion).

The Bills (Arctos Partners) and Dolphins (Ares Management) also sold their 10% allotment to private equity—a percentage cap that will likely rise in time—and Arctos also bought 8% of the Chargers at a valuation north of $6 billion. Several of these teams were sitting on the sidelines waiting for PE to be approved before shopping their LP stakes.

Additional reporting by Scott Soshnick