Jason Wright , former president of the Washington Commanders , says his experience in NFL circles suggests the league is close to opening itself up to foreign investment.

“I think you will see the smaller, scrappier leagues start to bring in sovereign investment more directly first, because the need is there,” he said on a sports business panel Thursday at Gabelli Funds’ annual Media & Sports Symposium in New York. “A slower mover like the NFL doesn’t have to until it has to, and so they’ll be a later mover, but you’ll see it sort of come up the funnel in terms of maturity and size and scale of the leagues.”

Sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia , Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have taken significant stakes in soccer, golf, auto racing and other sports, but major U.S. lea

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