Dolphins owner Steve Ross continues selling off pieces of his sports empire

Omar Kelly, Miami Herald on Oct 16, 2026

Published in Football

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MIAMI — Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross is selling more shares of his sports empire, reducing his ownership stake in South Florida’s NFL franchise for the third time in less than three years.

According to the Sports Business Journal, Chilean billionaire financier Jean Eric Salata has a deal in place to buy 2.1% of the Dolphins, and its affiliated businesses from Ross, who has been the majority owner of the Dolphins, and the stadium since 2009, which is when he paid $1.1 billion to acquire the team and the stadium from Wayne H. Huizenga.

The deal with Salata reportedly includes pieces of Hard Rock Stadium, the F1 Hard Rock Miami Grand Prix, which brings an annual infusion of $1 billion into South Florida for one weekend according to a team source, and the organization’s interest in the Miami Open tennis tournament, which Hard Rock Stadium was retrofitted to host.

This is the latest in a series of equity sales from Ross, who in March sold 10% of Ross Sports & Entertainment (RSE), to Xiaomi co-founder Lin Bin, making him the top minority shareholder of Ross’ sports holdings.

Ross also sold 10% to Ares Management and a combined 3% stake to Nets owner Joe Tsai and Nets minority owner Oliver Weisberg in December 2024.

Salata, 60, is chairman of the Swedish investment firm EQT AB, which in 2022 acquired the private equity firm he founded in Hong Kong, Baring Private Equity Asia. He is worth $8.4 billion, according to Forbes.

The sale is expected to be approved by NFL owners at their meeting next week in New York City. The league’s finance committee reportedly approved the transaction last month.

Ross, who turned 86 in May, has previously claimed he’s selling shares of RSE to lower the inheritance taxes that will be placed on his two daughters, Jennifer and Kimberly Ross, who are expected to inherit the franchise when he passes.

“We’re keeping it in the family,” Ross told Bloomberg when he decided to change who succeeded him as team owner two years ago.

Dan Sillman, who is married to Kimberly, has worked for RSE for years, and was named the CEO of RSE this August. But Sillman, who was the driving force behind the recent hiring of new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and head coach Jeff Hafley, has worked for Ross since 2018, serving as point man for a number of his sports businesses.

Sillman worked for Ross before he married Kimberly.

Ross claims he had been offered close to $15 billion for RSE, which has been given a valuation of $10 billion to $13 billion, depending on the source of that estimate. He has also in past interviews acknowledged that he uses RSE, and his ownership of the Dolphins, as collateral for loans he uses to fund real estate projects. However, at this time he has no interest in selling his majority stake in the franchise.