Stephen Ross sells the Dolphins, sort of but not really, to invest team

The Miami Dolphins will soon have new ownership but not in the form some fans often want to see. While Stephen Ross isn't selling the Dolphins, he is selling off a part of it.

No, the Dolphins have not found a new celebrity to become a "sort of owner" like Fergie and the Williams sisters, to name a few. This time around, Ross is giving an investment firm a stake in his franchise. He invested in Mike McDaniel earlier in the year, too.

Miami is one of a handful of NFL teams that have received approval from the league to sell a portion of the franchise to an investment team. The Dolphins will sell to the private equity group Ares Management.

According to NBC, the NFL approved a 10 percent sale of the Dolphins to Ares, which would also include stakes in Hard Rock Stadium and the Miami Grand Prix. In addition, two owners of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets will also buy three percent of the Dolphins.

The league passed a resolution earlier this year allowing teams to sell up to 10 percent to equity firms to improve their cash flow. Typically, NFL teams don't get the money from a season until after the year is over, but with better cash flow, teams who take advantage of the ownership can have better flow throughout the season.

The Miami Dolphins sold a small portion of the team's interest to Ares Management

For now and the foreseeable future, the Dolphins will remain under the full control of Stephen Ross. The line of succession will pass to his daughter should anything happen to him.

It was previously set up to go to Bruce Beal, who was approved by NFL ownership to take over in the event Ross would sell or something worse happened.

His involvement with the Tom Brady tampering ended his involvement with the Dolphins and as a future owner of the team.

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