Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Jozy Altidore Approved as Bills Ownership Partners

Add the Buffalo Bills to the growing list of sports franchises adding marquee names to their ownership group.

The Bills announced on Wednesday that 10 limited partners have been added to their ownership group, including Basketball Hall of Famers Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady and U.S. soccer legend Jozy Altidore.

Sports franchises selling limited ownership stakes is becoming a more common practice. The most notable recent example was Tom Brady purchasing a five percent stake in the Las Vegas Raiders.

Per Ben Fischer of the Sports Business Journal, there are several reasons the NFL has started to see more teams open up to bring in more partners for ownership.

One of the reasons cited is simply the value of having famous people as a shareholder. They can use their status as a marketing vehicle for the franchise and league as a whole.

There have already been stories about how the Raiders hope Brady can help them find an answer at quarterback and recruit free agents to play for the organization.

Given how well run the Bills have been, they don't necessarily need to bring in someone of Brady's stature to help turn things around. It doesn't hurt to have three legends of their sport promoting the NFL franchise when they are making the media rounds.

Carter and McGrady don't have a direct connection to Buffalo, but they did at one point in their careers play for the Toronto Raptors. The Bills were the unofficial team of Toronto when they played a series of home games at Rogers Centre from 2008 to '12.

Altidore began his professional career in 2006 with the New York Red Bulls. He later had a six-year stint with Toronto FC from 2015 to '21.