New Rangers Minority Owner Gives Franchise More Local Connections

The Texas Rangers have a new minority owner, and the NBA All-Star grew up not far from the ballpark.

A hat and glove of a Texas Rangers player. | John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

The NBA typically only crosses over to the Texas Rangers when the franchise has a Dallas Mavericks theme night.

Well, now the team has a more meaningful NBA connection in Cade Cunningham.

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ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Cunningham, an All-Star guard and former No. 1 overall pick of the Detroit Pistons, purchased a minority share of the Rangers. His report did not indicate how much he spent or what percentage of the team he now owns.

For the 24-year-old Cunningham, the move makes sense. He was born in Arlington in 2001 and attended Arlington Bowie High School for the first two years of his prep career before he transferred to Montverde Academy in Florida. He remains a Rangers fan and threw out the first pitch before a Rangers game last July.

He signed a five-year maximum rookie extension with the Pistons before this season, one that pays him $269 million over the next five years.

Rangers Current Ownership

Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham. | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

ESPN reported that Cunningham purchased his stake through an athlete investment group called Sportsology Capital Partners, which completed an investment in the franchise. Per Sportico, the negotiations between the Rangers and Sportsology have been going on for more than a year. The purchase is part of a $500 million private equity firm is their first investment in an American pro sports team.  

One of the firm’s co-founders, Mike Forde, was at one time in charge of Chelsea FC’s football operations. Sportico reported a valuation of the Rangers in 2025 at $2.47 billion but did not report the extent of Sportsology’s investment.

The Rangers are currently owned by Rangers Baseball Express, a group that purchased the team at auction from former owner Thomas Hicks in 2010. The original headliners of the purchase were former franchise icon Nolan Ryan and Pittsburgh sports attorney Chuck Greenberg. But Ray Davis and Bob R. Simpson, who made their money in the oil industry, put up the bulk of the sale price.

Ryan and Greenberg ran the team. Greenberg sold his stake in 2011, leaving Ryan as the team’s president and CEO. Ryan resigned as CEO in 2013 as ownership elevated then-general manager Jon Daniels to president of baseball operations and Rick George to president of business operations.

Davis is now the managing partner and majority owner, with Simpson head of the team’s executive committee. Neil Liebman, who is now the chairman of Rangers Sports Media and Entertainment Company, is part of the original Rangers Express ownership group.