Opportunities to invest in sports teams across the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and MLS will now be offered through iCapital, the alternative investment marketplace used by over 100,000 financial professionals on behalf of their high-net-worth clients.
iCapital has partnered with CAZ Investments, the Houston-based alternative investment firm that invests in sports teams through Arctos Partners, the only private equity firm approved to buy minority ownership stakes across all five major North American sports leagues.
“We think everything in the sports world from an investment standpoint is attractive to what any investor would want,” said Matt Lindholm, partner at CAZ Investments. “You have incredibly resilient and long term recurring revenue streams, very consistent profitability, and low to no leverage at the franchise level, which in a higher interest rate environment is something that's extremely attractive. You have a very loyal customer base, and a high scarcity in sports franchises.”
MLB became the first major U.S. sports league to allow private equity funds to hold minority stakes in teams, and the NFL became the last major North American league to embrace private equity last year when owners approved PE stakes of up to 10% in a team. “Because there are not an unlimited number of franchises, we think this is sort of the golden era for sports investing,” said Lindholm. “It's not going to be available forever.”
Arctos has surpassed $11 billion in AUM since its founding in 2019. Its funds include stakes in teams such as MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, San Diego Padres, and Chicago Cubs; the NFL’s Buffalo Bills; the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, and Utah Jazz; as well as English soccer club Liverpool FC and French club Paris Saint-Germain.
“We think in this environment in particular, it's highly resilient to tariff exposure, to inflation exposure and to disruption from AI because you have unique real-time fan engagement that is just really resilient to all of those things,” Lindholm said. “Investment advisors can give their investors a non-correlated asset that actually has the ability to generate private market returns, and do that with low volatility and a lot of durability.”
The growing merger of sports and private equity also includes the recent launch of a sports investment offering from TPG, the private equity firm that is a minority investor in RIAs such as Creative Planning and Homrich Berg. Lindholm additionally pointed to lucrative media rights deals, international market expansion, and legalized sports betting as tailwinds to further sustain sports team valuations. CAZ’s network spans 6,000 investors with over $9 billion AUM, while more than $200 billion in private assets are invested through iCapital’s fintech platform.
"Appetite continues to grow among financial advisors and their clients for investment opportunities in professional sports teams," said Steve Houston, managing director and co-head of iCapital Solutions. "We are pleased to support CAZ Investments' goal to increase access to these alternative investments for the wealth management channel and to help advisors and clients achieve their investment objectives."
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