Ryan Kalil, former Carolina Panthers All-Pro center, is back in the football world. The lineman teamed up with NBA icon Blake Griffin to purchase a controlling stake in an American football team located in Mexico. This is an important distinction since futbol is popular in that country, but this is definitely an American football team, something Kalil is quite familiar with.
Kalil has not played with the Panthers since 2018 and he retired from the NFL after the 2019 season. He’s been doing a lot of business ventures in the meantime, and that now includes becoming an owner of a small football team south of the border.
Ryan Kalil, other Panthers icons land ownership stake in Mexican football team
So this is cool:
Former Pro Bowl Panther center Ryan Kalil and his business partner, NBA all-star Blake Griffin, have acquired a controlling stake in an American football team based in Mexico, and renamed the team “Osos Monterrey.”
You’ll recognize some other surnames in the… pic.twitter.com/DQD1N4HrDw— Scott Fowler (@scott_fowler) January 27, 2025
According to Scott Fowler, Ryan Kalil and Blake Griffin have formed an ownership group that now controls part of Osos Monterrey, a Mexican-based American football team. Kalil and Griffin are the headliners, but they’re not the only prominent members of this group.
Per Fowler, Christian McCaffrey, Julius Peppers, Greg Olsen, Luke Kuechly, Jonathan Stewart, Sam Darnold, George Kittle, and Ron Rivera are also involved. That’s a who’s who of Panthers history (and George Kittle, for whatever reason).
Kalil and Griffin also have a media production company that’s going to produce a documentary on their journey as owners of the football team. It’s not clear when this will come out, but it’s probably something worth keeping an eye out for.
