Billionaire Related Ross chairman Steve Ross is selling a 1 percent stake in the Miami Dolphins to Chinese billionaire Lin Bin in a deal that values the team at $12.5 billion.
It’s a record valuation based on publicly known minority stakes sold in the National Football League, according to Sportico, which first reported the deal.
The NFL approved the deal for Bin to buy a $125 million stake in the holding company that owns the team, Hard Rock Stadium and the Miami Grand Prix. The league’s owners are expected to grant final approval at their March meeting, according to published reports.
Ross is the majority owner of the team and has been clear he intends to keep control of the team within his family. At a January event with Bloomberg, he announced that his son-in-law Daniel Sillman was next in line to lead the team.
“He worked for me before marrying my daughter. He is terrific and he will run it,” Ross said. “I don’t think there’s a better asset.”
The deal marks the latest escalation in the rapid growth of sports team valuations. Ross bought the Dolphins for $1 billion in 2009. He sold a 13 percent minority stake in 2024 that valued the team at $8.1 billion.
An analysis by Forbes ahead of the 2025-2026 NFL season estimated the Dallas Cowboys as the most valuable team in the league, with an estimated value of $13 billion. The same analysis estimated the Dolphins were worth $7.5 billion.
Ross, the founder of New York-based Related Companies, has an estimated net worth of $17 billion. He relocated to Palm Beach full time during the pandemic and shifted his development efforts to focus on nearby West Palm Beach. Earlier this month he expanded his portfolio in the city, securing a $172.5 million loan to buy the Ben Hotel. –– Kate Hinsche
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Steve Ross trades New York state of mind for West Palm Beach