Robert Kraft is reportedly selling a minority stake in the Patriots

For the first time since 1994, Robert Kraft is set to own less than 100 percent of the Patriots.

According to Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal, Kraft (as head of the Kraft Group) is divesting eight-percent of his stake in the team as part of the NFL’s updated private equity policy from 2024.

Specifically, global investment firm Sixth Street reportedly has agreed to a deal to take a three-percent stake in the Patriots at a team valuation of more than $9 billion. The other five-percent Kraft made available is being purchased Greek-American billionaire Dean Metropoulos, per Fischer.

Both potential deals are subject to review at the upcoming owners’ meeting on Oct. 21-22. The league officially approved private equity stakes in NFL teams in 2024, but limited it to no more than 10-percent of any team.

At the time, Kraft noted that he would consider selling a stake in the future.

“A win-win all around,” he told Forbes. “I never thought I would sell anything out, but I’m considering it.”

According to Fischer, Kraft “has no intention of relinquishing control of the team.”

Originally purchased in 1994 for a then-record sum of $172 million, Kraft has overseen New England’s franchise valuation rise exponentially in the ensuing decades. The most recent Forbes appraisal placed the Patriots as being worth $9 billion, one of the most valuable sports teams in the world.