Based on the valuation trend over the past 10 years and taking into consideration the last 2 expansion phases, it is my belief that the next expansion team(s) to join the league will need to pay an expansion fee of approximately $750 million dollars. The Carolina Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguars each paid $206 million to the NFL for their new expansion franchises in 1993. The next expansion team was the Cleveland Browns which paid $530 million expansion fee for their new franchise in 1998. Remember that the old Cleveland Browns became the Baltimore Ravens the previous year, so Cleveland was a new expansions franchise in 1998. You can see that the cost for a new franchise more than doubled in a 5 year period from 1993 to 1998 although Cleveland may have paid more because the NFL commissioner helped swing a new stadium deal in the city of Cleveland, so that the new franchise included a state-of-the art stadium which includes high priced luxury boxes which generate 14 million in annual revenue by themselves. Based on this estimate, our group will try to raise 750 million dollars by selling 750,000 shares of ownership stock worth $1000.00 each. 750,000 shares x $1000.00 = 750 million dollars. This will not be easy, however by harnessing the power of the internet I am confident we will find interested investors from all over the country and raise the capital within 2 years time. The method we shall use will be fairly simple. Interested owners will fill out an application so that we can verify their references and will then pledge to a number of shares of stock they wish to pre-purchase when the ownership group is fully formed. In other words, once your ownership application is approved you will tell us how many shares of stock you want. When we have successfully found buyers for asll 750,000 shares everyone will be expected to make their stock purchase so that we may proceed with negotiation for purchasing a team. Our group will file as a LLC corporation in the State of California and all principal shareholders will have their names listed in the corporate records. All money collected will be placed in a corporate holding account, controlled by myself, the company President, and the principal owner who holds a majority of the shares. The funds in this corporate account will be used for purchasing a new team, and if we have remaining funds they will be used as operating capital. If we require more funds to complete a purchase or for initial operating capital the corporation will either seek out loans or issue more shares of stock. In the latter case all existing shareholders will have the opportunity of purchasing more stock before it is offered to outside parties who would become new members of the ownership group. The team president and majority shareholder will have a final say in all matters, however major shareholders will form a Board of Directors and will vote on certain issues of importance that affect the entire group. No shareholder shall be held accountable for debt that may be incurred, as outlined in the LLC charter. A major shareholder shall be defined as someone who possesses at least $10 million worth of stock. The majority shareholder shall be defined as a single person or entity that owns more stock than any other individual person or entity in the group. There is no minimum to the number of shares you may purchase, however, anyone who purchases at least 10 shares of stock ($10,000.00) will be granted access to our members area on our website where we will publish stock holder information and a forum for talking to other members of the group. This is also where I will post periodic updates informing the group of our progress and any pertinent news that is private in nature. We will discuss potential expansion cities and team names, or target existing teams that may be interested in selling. We will maintain this members area for as long as the group exists which means if we are successful in purchasing an NFL franchise we will still discuss pertinent issues in our forum. We will continue to take pledges for shares of stock until 750,000 shares are sold. We will update on a daily basis the number of shares sold, and the number of owners on the main page of this website. All applicants to the ownership group will pay a one-time non-refundable application fee which will be used for website operating expenses and advertising so that we may attract new prospective partners. Applications will be reviewed to determine if an applicant is suitable to join the group as determined by myself, the President. The NFL is somewhat selective in choosing ownership groups so all members must be residents of the United States and have valid personal/business references. If, after a period of 2 years following the date our LLC is formed we are unable to acquire an NFL franchise despite our best efforts, the corporation shall be absolved and all existing funds returned to the shareholders. If a shareholder wishes to sell his shares he/she must gain the approval of the President before the transaction can be finalized. Once the LLC is formed at no time may a single person or entity hold more stock than the majority shareholder. Shareholders will receive quarterly profit earnings reports along with a check for their percentage of the profit share. As an added incentive, certain plateaus of ownership will award the shareholder with special perks as detailed below: $1000.00 =
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