SportsInvest Newsflash (by Oakwell Sports Advisory)
Stay up-to-date with sports investment trends & events worldwide
Top Stories of the Week
LIV Golf offers players equity stake in new teams
The Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit is offering players equity in its teams after announcing a 14-tournament league starting in 2023.
The breakaway competition revealed plans for the league earlier this week, with 48 contracted players being part of 12 ‘established team franchises’.
With LIV Golf’s players getting a cut, they will be able to share in revenue and profits as their teams start selling corporate sponsorships and ownership stakes.
LIV Golf player Travis Smyth confirmed that principal players on each team would get a 25% ownership cut, with top stars set to be provided with full support to acquire sponsorships and build the team into the equivalent of a major sports franchise.
Navarro to take control of Cincinnati pro tennis events for nearly $300m
Charleston businessman Ben Navarro has reached an agreement to acquire the Western & Southern Open ATP Tour event in Cincinnati, and the lease to the WTA Tour event in the same city.
Navarro, whose Beemok Sports already owns a WTA event in Charleston, has agreed to pay just under $300m.
The USTA currently owns 93.8% of Cincinnati Tennis LLC, which holds the sanction to the ATP event. The governing body initially paid $12.6m to buy an 80% stake in 2009. It later upped that to 93.8% in a $5.8m cash deal. Cincinnati Tennis LLC currently leases the women’s sanction from Octagon.
Fantasy sports app Underdog raises $35m Series B funding round
Fantasy sports app Underdog has raised a $35m Series B funding round that will be used to fuel its expansion into licensed sports betting. BlackRock and Acies Investments led the funding round for Underdog, which now values itself at $485m.
On top of its existing fantasy sports app, Underdog plans to build sports betting products over the next year and hire more than 100 new employees. The company raised $10m last year from notable investors such as NBA stars Kevin Durant and Trae Young, NFL stars Odell Beckham Jr. and Jared Goff, and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
Underdog’s season-long fantasy football tournament held last NFL season had a $10m prize pool. Chris Grove, a gambling industry analysis for the firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, is also a co-founding partner at sports betting-focused venture capital firm Acies Investments.
Sue Bird joins Gotham FC as minority owner at record $40m valuation
WNBA star Sue Bird is set to join NJ/NY Gotham FC’s ownership group. The retiring Seattle Storm legend is buying a minority stake in the NWSL club.
Bird is joining Gotham FC’s ownership group alongside former NFL quarterback Eli Manning. While the financial terms of the agreements were not disclosed, it has been reported that the franchise now is valued at an NWSL-record $40m.
Bird and Manning join Kevin Durant’s Thirty Five Ventures and former USWNT star Carli Lloyd on the roster of Gotham FC investors.
Football
Clubs fear UEFA will withdraw £2bn COVID-19 relief fund
Clubs across Europe fear that UEFA, the sport’s governing body in the region, is set to renege on a proposed multi-billion pound recovery fund intended to stimulate transfer market growth following the economic hardship suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In December 2021, UEFA’s website announced the UEFA Executive Committee had heard a detailed update on plans for the “European Club Football Recovery Plan”.
Clubs in France, Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, Poland, Croatia and Portugal have all expressed concerns about UEFA’s failure thus far to deliver on the initiative.
HPS to provide debt funding for CVC’s French football deal
HPS Investment Partners will lend about €500m to help fund CVC Capital Partners’ investment in French professional football.
The New York-based fund will be the sole lender in the deal, set to close by the end of this month.
Oldham's new owner Frank Rothwell tells fans 'pain is over now' at crisis torn club
The new owner of Oldham Athletic has declared that the “pain is over now” after completing a £12m takeover of the crisis torn club.
Local businessman Frank Rothwell was serenaded by Oldham fans amid jubilant scenes at Boundary Park on Thursday night after his buyout of the embattled National League club brought an end to Abdallah Lemsagam’s tumultuous four-and-a-half year ownership.
In addition to clearing Oldham’s debts of more than £2m, a statement on the club’s official website confirmed Rothwell was due to finalise the purchase of their Boundary Park home from former owner Simon Blitz within the course of the next week.
Birmingham City takeover held up by lack of information about current ownership structure
The proposed takeover of Birmingham City by local businessman Paul Richardson and former Barcelona striker Maxi Lopez is being held up by the club’s failure to provide the English Football League with information about their current ownership structure.
Richardson said last week they had agreed a deal that would see them acquire a 21.64% stake in the club and operational control of the Championship side within “two or three weeks”, with a further 75% stake coming over the next “two to two and a half years”.
He also said the pair had paid a non-refundable deposit to gain access to Birmingham City’s financial data and prevent the current owners from negotiating with any other parties for a fixed period.
Motorsport
Porsche advances plans to enter Formula 1 with Red Bull
Leaked documents that detail Porsche’s plan to buy half of Red Bull Technology are reliable, a Red Bull Racing spokesperson confirmed on July 28.
The filing, first reported on July 27, shows that Porsche petitioned Moroccan race authorities on July 8 regarding an impending 10-year deal with the F1 team. The notification outlined a 50% purchase of Red Bull Technology, which builds chassis for the Formula 1 team Oracle Red Bull Racing; it indicated that the partnership would also extend to the separate F1 team business.
Details regarding how the deal is to be be structured are not finalized.
Golf
Troon acquires caddy tech startup ClubUp to enhance golf club management offering
Sports leisure and management firm Troon has acquired golf technology startup ClubUp whose platform provides a matchmaking and management service for players and caddies.
ClubUp was founded in 2016 and has more than 65 partner clubs using its technology, including Shinnecock Hills Golf Club and Los Angeles Country Club, as well as 8,000 independent contractors.
Its platform manages the allocation, scheduling and payment of caddy services and feeds data from each round played back into partner club’s system. This enhances the experience for players and provides clubs with valuable information to improve their operations.
Cycling
Legends to help grow TeamTrak Cycling League, takes minority stake
Legends, the premium experiences company, has been enlisted by the World Cycling Limited event organizer and promoter to support the launch and growth of its indoor TeamTrak Cycling League, the inaugural season of which is due to run next year.
Under the partnership, Legends is tasked with securing sponsorship sales and managing omnichannel merchandise services for the league.
A data-driven approach will see data and analytics leveraged to provide fan insights, deliver asset valuation for sponsorship sales, and identify overall revenue-generating opportunities for the league.
Media
Warner Bros Discovery and BT Sport’s UK joint venture gets go-ahead from CMA
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has approved the BT Group and Warner Bros Discovery’s agreement to launch their new joint venture (JV).
The decision means that in the coming weeks all assets will be transferred into the new company, completing the deal £633m deal announced by BT and Warner Bros Discovery in May.
Initially, BT Sport and Eurosport UK will retain their separate brand and product propositions, before they will ultimately converge into one single entity in the future. The new company’s board of directors will be equally represented by those appointed by BT and Warner Bros Discovery, with Marc Allera, chief executive of BT’s consumer division, named as the first chairperson of the JV.
Esports
Los Grandes launches ‘IPO’ for fan partner programme
Brazilian esports organisation Los Grandes has partnered with investment platform DIVI•hub to launch a sort of ‘public offering’ of stocks for its fan partner programme.
The initial plan is to raise around $1m BRL (~£152,700) from investors, who will be awarded 15% of the programme’s revenue for three years after its launch.
Health & Fitness
Connected fitness AI startup Asensei looks to scale with SeventySix Capital investment
Technology venture capital firm SeventySix Capital has invested in fitness artificial intelligence developer Asensei with the intention of helping the startup scale its business and take advantage of the growing demand for connected fitness products.
Asensei’s coaching software uses computer vision or motion capture sensors to track human movement, allowing connected fitness applications and hardware to monitor style and technique and provide real time feedback during workouts.
The company’s software development kit (SDK) adds the motion capture capabilities to existing products with just a few lines of code, allowing connected fitness platforms to offer personalisation features that deepen engagement and reduce subscription churn.
Athlete Investor
Ex-NBA star Metta World Peace targets $1bn investment fund
Metta Sandiford-Artest, the former pro basketball player also known as Metta World Peace, is planning a new investment fund for his Artest Management Group,
The fund is targeting $1bn but the fundraising hasn’t begun yet and the target size could still change.
Focusing on the U.S. and Asia, the new fund would invest in sports real estate and professional teams, as well as startups across health, sports, blockchain technology and real estate. The fund could also potentially be used to acquire businesses and to make a large investment in a Las Vegas professional basketball arena.
Agency
Wasserman agency expands MLB business by acquiring Jet Sports Management
Global sports management and marketing firm Wasserman added to its Major League Baseball roster, acquiring Tampa-based Jet Sports Management.
In the transaction, Wasserman’s baseball unit will merge Jet Sports clients, which include All-Stars Byron Buxton and Matt Olson and Hall of Famer Chipper Jones. Jet Sports founder B.B. Abbott will join Wasserman as executive vice president and baseball managing executive. He’ll be accompanied by eight Jet employees, including six other MLB agents. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
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