Tracy McGrady has long aspired to team ownership, and now that he’s secured a stake in the NFL, he’s dedicated to increasing representation in the league.
As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the basketball icon was announced as a minority owner of the Buffalo Bills in December 2024. He joins his former Toronto Raptors teammate and fellow Florida native, Vince Carter, as part of a group of 10 limited partners, which also includes soccer star Jozy Altidore. This marks the first time the Bills, owned by Terry and Kim Pegula, have expanded their ownership group.
Kevell Byrd
McGrady also reveals the backstory behind becoming a minority owner and what key factors played a role in the group’s approval to own a stake in the team. Derrick Heggans, connector and strategist, Fandex Board member, and founder and CEO of the Global Sports and Entertainment Business Academy, presented the idea of securing a stake in the Buffalo Bills. Recognizing the Buffalo Bills’ interest in expanding their fanbase, particularly in the Southern Ontario market, Heggans saw a strategic fit. With their strong ties to Toronto, McGrady and Carter were a “perfect marriage” for the franchise.
However, to reach the finish line, the odds were not in favor of McGrady and Carter when considering just 8% of principal owners and limited partners in the NFL were people of color, ESPN notes.
There was also another individual who was separately interested in being approved as a limited partner in the team. McGrady learned of this while on a tour and entering a suite to watch a Buffalo Bills game. In his observations, he felt the other individual left a starkly different impression—one that McGrady recalls as loud and obnoxious.
A few weeks later, McGrady received the good news that his group had been approved as limited partners. He believes the decision came down to character and integrity compared to how much money was in the room and accolades.
“The dude was crazy loaded too. I said to myself, ‘It’s really not about what you have done on the court, what you have done on the field. It’s not about how much money you have.’ They don’t care about that,” McGrady admits. “It’s about integrity and your character and what we see or what we want affiliated and representing our team…I just gotta tell these kids, you can go out and score 30,000 points and you can have five championships and all this, but you got to have integrity to get you in certain rooms and get you to the table to close out deals like this.”
“When you look at the NFL, all these guys are billionaires. But none of them look like me. To have that opportunity to walk into that door and and and be a part of that, I think, sets to the the the precedent of now that you in here, you gotta hold yourself to a higher standard,” McGrady expressed. “And hopefully, not just being a limited partner now, now we need to get guys in to be majority owners. That was the goal.”
He added, “Hopefully, myself, Vince, and Jozy, being in the NFL and part owners of the Buffalo Bills, can open up some more doors to bigger roles and ownership.”
Heggans commented:
“It’s not just limited partners with the Buffalo Bills, they are owners in the National Football League. They have a voice within the National Football League as they are going to use this platform to do a lot of great things for our folks.”