Global Sports Investing: Institutional Strategies for a Booming Asset Class
In the world of institutional investing, shiny new objects come in all forms, from algorithmic trading and AI to... sports teams? In July, Ares Management launched a fund to enable wealthy retail investors access to the sports market, saying it wants to manage $100 billion from individual investors for private, wealth-related assets globally by 2028.i A long list of managers have lined up to pour capital into sports finance, including 26North, Bluestone, Blue Owl, Arctos, Apollo, CVC, and more. Competition for such assets is intensifying. Institutional sports investing and asset management comes with a unique set of attractors and cautions, as well as data management and operational complexities in managing valuations, due diligence, liquidity, and reporting. Here are the nuances of sports asset classes and insights on how institutional asset managers can succeed.
America loves football (yes, European football)
The trend of institutional asset managers and institutional investors buying into sports assets originated with US interest in European football teams. This trend dates back to the early 2000s, when three American PEs purchased Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in 2006 – though today the marquee franchise is owned by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI). European Big Five football leagues were backed by private equity, venture capital, or private debt firms.ii
Clearlake Capital made waves by acquiring the English Premiere League’s (EPL) Chelsea Football Club in 2022, alongside a consortium led by the LA Dodgers owner. Other top tier cross-continental buys include Ares Management and Atletico Madrid, Oaktree Capital and Inter Milan, and Elliot Management and AC Milan.
Additionally, Ares has provided debt financing to Chelsea—illustrating covenant design around media and match-day revenues, and the reputational optics of high-profile borrowers. Elite football clubs need to pay their bills just as much as the rest of us. Oaktree took control of the Italian club Inter Milan in May 2024 after a €395m default. Firms are serious about enforcement on club equity. It didn’t send a collection agency. It simply enforced the collateral agreement and took control of the club.
Capital flows freely across the Atlantic
Rules on foreign investment are fairly thin and diverse. Italy’s top soccer league, Serie A, allows PE and other funds to own teams outright. The German Bundesliga has a ‘50+1’ rule; the fans must own more than half of a club’s equity. Aside from that, corporations and funds are permitted to have minority ownership. In England, the EPL only asks that buyers meet the league’s requirements for suitability and proof of capital.
The trend is accelerating. In early 2025, nearly two-thirds of football club transactions involved U.S.-based buyers, including takeovers of Leyton Orient, Reading FC, Benfica stake investment, etc.iii However, regulators and the EPL itself have pricked up their ears of late, contemplating greater scrutiny and transparency into complex ownership structures, to guard against various forms of illicit finance.iv
The world loves football (yes, American football)
It seems that tariffs are not the only thing remaking the global flow of capital. Ultra-famous American professional sports leagues have been opening the doors to foreign ownership of US assets. The notoriously guarded National Football League (NFL) voted in August 2024 to allow PE funds to own up to 10% of a franchise on a passive basis. That change adds look-through ownership, conflict-of-interest and disclosure implications for team cap tables and LP communications.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) adjusted ownership rules to allow investment from PE and sovereign wealth funds. Now, a United Arab Emirates sovereign wealth fund, Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Capital, is backing the TWG Global deal to buy the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers.
Trends like these are changing asset managers’ investment strategies. Aside from regulatory and foreign exchange cross-border concerns, in today’s fraught geopolitical atmosphere, firms need to choose their international sports transactions wisely and perhaps hedge their positions in other markets.
Sovereign wealth funds & pension funds get in the game
The Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, famously launched its own professional LIV Golf league in the US in 2023. MENA sovereign wealth funds are willing and able to outbid for upside, evidenced by the Saudi Arabia PIF-backed $409 million takeover of 80% of the English club Newcastle United in 2021.v A sovereign wealth fund is allowed to own up to 7.5% of an entity that owns a maximum of 10% of an NFL club.
In a similar vein, the $56 billion Texas Schools Pension Fund bought a stake in a sports PE firm. In 2023, OMERS, a pension fund for Ontario municipal employees, purchased a 5% minority stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Toronto Raptors, among other sports teams.
Family offices, celebrity investors, and the luxury asset effect
Family offices love sports. GMF Capital purchased a majority stake in Motorsport Network Media, with nearly 50 different racing and automotive properties. Tricor Pacific made its first foray into sports with its investment in Treaty United FC, the men’s and women’s professional teams from Ireland. Women’s professional sports leagues like the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) have seen rapid valuation increases, as an exciting emerging sports market. Natalie Portman was a founder of NWSL Angel City FC, leading a glossy list of female movie stars from Christina Aguilera to Serena Williams as investors.vi
The glitz and glamour of professional sports appeal to retail investors of all stripes, but only ultra-wealthy investors traditionally have access. With such a limited buyer pool, sports assets are fairly illiquid investments. Firms and family offices are finding a rich upside in high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) sports fans. Sports investing is poised to explode among this affluent crowd. Some estimate that 42% of the $84 trillion great generational wealth transfer money sits in the vaults of affluent families.vii
Brand equity and a piece of celebrity and fandom are difficult to resist for UHNW individuals. Moreover, sports represent a more uncorrelated asset class of a larger category some call luxury assets and others call cultural assets. And yes, family offices are even appraising pickleball for opportunities.viii
“While few assets are truly insulated from wider financial markets, investments such as art, jewelry and sports teams can be attractive options due to their tendency to maintain value during uncertain times, providing diversification and a potentially strong return on investment.” - BNYW 2025 Investment Insights Single Family Offices Reportix
Sports investing for additional alts exposure in private debt
Sports investing is yet another tactic to achieve portfolio diversification through private markets, with potential for multiple revenue streams, from ticketing platforms, merchandising, and media rights to venue and facility operators. JPMorgan offers stadium financing exposure to wealthy private banking clients. With passive PE ownership now permitted in the NFL, we expect to see more credit solutions at the holding company or stadium level. These lenders must still underwrite league approval risk, revenue sharing, and relocation/stadium cycles.
More familiar structures like real estate investment trusts (REITs) or private real estate portfolios can neatly wrap assets like athletic venues within broader entertainment districts or mixed-use developments. These vehicles look like traditional real estate while still benefiting from the sexy appeal of sports assets.
M&A deal activity in European soccer clubs rose to nearly 2.2 billion euros in 2024
Valuations challenges
Much of sports assets’ perceived value is derived from intangibles like player talent and brand loyalty, making standardized valuation methodologies challenging. Players and clubs are basically securitized assets that increase in value. For example, player registrations are capitalized intangibles under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and amortized over the life of the contract—core to modeling value and regulatory ratios.x The NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders’ stadium financing combined county bonds, NFL/BoA loans and personal seat license/naming rights revenue—a clear illustration of multi-source securitized cash-flow stacks. NFL team values have surged on the back of national media deals (e.g., multiple clubs now >$10B), which complicates comps and forward multiples in investor decks.
This complexity calls for airtight data lineage tools so GPs can tie sporting KPIs (tracking data, Opta) to accounting items (player amortization, contingent transfer add-ons) for audit-ready valuation memos. Further, valuation teams must build “competition ladders” that models different on-field outcomes and media-rights downside tests into NAV packs to precisely justify asset valuations every quarter and document how performance metrics drive financial value.
“When PE firms enter a market, they generally don’t have thoroughly developed valuation strategies, and this can pose a challenge for US teams. Unlike in Europe, where PE firms have typically targeted financially underperforming clubs with clear financial restructuring opportunities, US teams may not present such clear pathways to value creation.” - PwCxi
Reporting challenges
Clubs competing in UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) tournaments report under the Financial Sustainability Regulations (FSR) with squad-cost caps and solvency/stability tests—now a core part of investor updates and risk disclosures.xii To comply with FSR and respective domestic rules, European clubs must stitch together sporting data, wage bills, transfer amortization, and ancillary revenues for monitoring and external reporting. Sports investors must find sensible methods to account for under-the-radar liabilities such as complex revenue sharing obligations, deferred player compensation, league specific regulations, and stadium maintenance commitments.
Sports offer glamour, long-term stability, great returns
The sports investing boom will continue to boom, with its undeniable glamour and promise of sizeable returns, while also remaining solidly resistant to economic downturns. College sports are next to accept PE investments. Soon, Penn State fans may be able to own a piece of their beloved Nittany Lions. The NCAA’s Big Ten Conference is exploring partnerships with PE firms. While there are more challenges for collegiate organizations to get PE money, it has been easier for professional sports franchises.xiii
The institutions that can use advanced data management and due diligence processes will be positioned to navigate its complex ownership structures, regulatory compliance, valuation volatility, and reporting requirements.
5 Key Takeaways:
Q1: Why are institutional investors increasingly buying sports assets?
A1: Sports franchises offer uncorrelated returns, brand equity, and multiple revenue streams—from media rights to real estate—making them attractive diversification plays.
Q2: Which sports markets are drawing the most institutional capital?
A2: European football, U.S. professional leagues, and women’s sports, are seeing strong inflows from PE firms, sovereign wealth funds, and family offices.
Q3: What are the key operational risks in sports asset management?
A3: Complex ownership structures, regulatory compliance, valuation volatility, and reporting requirements demand advanced data management and due diligence processes.
Q4: How do cross-border deals change the risk profile?
A4: Investors face currency exposure, geopolitical tensions, and diverse foreign investment rules—factors that may require strategic hedging or selective market entry.
Q5: What makes sports asset valuation challenging?
A5: Intangibles like brand loyalty, player performance, and fan engagement complicate standardized valuation models, requiring bespoke analysis and scenario planning.
Authored By
Cesar Estrada
Cesar oversees Arcesium's investment operations, accounting, and data management solutions for private markets fund managers and institutional investors.
Share This post
[i] Bloomberg, July 18, 2025. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-18/ares-launches-sports-and-media-fund-for-wealthy-investors [CE1]Add 26 North to the list.
[iii] Wall Street’s Quiet Takeover of the Sports Industry and What Comes Next, August 7, 2025. https://www.essentiallysports.com/flagship-think-tank-news-wall-streets-quiet-takeover-of-the-sports-industry-and-what-comes-next/
[iv] Protecting Premier League football clubs through tighter regulation, January 13, 2025. https://blog.policy.manchester.ac.uk/posts/2025/01/protecting-premier-league-football-clubs-through-tighter-regulation/
[v] NBC, October 8, 2021. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/saudi-led-consortium-buys-english-premier-league-club-newcastle-rcna2760
[vi] Inc., https://www.inc.com/magazine/202312/sam-blum/how-natalie-portmans-womens-soccer-team-cracked-code-on-giving-back.html
[vii] Cerulli, https://www.cerulli.com/press-releases/cerulli-anticipates-84-trillion-in-wealth-transfers-through-2045
[viii] https://www.craincurrency.com/sports/family-offices-bet-big-pickleball-expanding-investments-fast-growing-sport
[ix] BNY Wealth, BNYW_2025_Investment_Insights_Single_Family_Offices_Report, https://info.wealth.bny.com/rs/636-GOT-884/images/BNYW_2025_Investment_Insights_Single_Family_Offices_Report.pdf
[x] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1549107/000110465921117363/manu-20210630x20f.htm
[xi] PwC, How private equity can rewrite the financial playbook for sports franchises, December 18, 2024. https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/tmt/library/private-equity-in-sports.html
[xii] Oxera,October 11, 2023. https://www.oxera.com/insights/agenda/articles/caught-offside-the-eu-foreign-subsidies-regulation-and-european-football-clubs/
[xiii] NY Times, August 6, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6536362/2025/08/06/big-ten-private-equity-tony-petitti/
Subscribe Today
No spam. Just the latest releases and tips, interesting articles, and exclusive interviews in your inbox every week.
