🔊 Inside The $150M College Sports Fund Backed By Former Pro Athletes

This week, Chiron Sports Group, a Swiss-based private equity firm, announced a $150 million fund, focused squarely on college athletics.

The fund, called Legacy 25, is backed by several pro athletes, including:

They're also bringing on Teamworks co-founder, Mitch Heath, as an advisor and partner.

The focus of the fund will be geared towards helping mainly mid-major schools and non-revenue generating sports unlock new revenue streams while giving them access to Chiron’s media and tech partners.

Why Does This Matter?

As private equity makes its inevitable entrance into college sports, we’ll see a wave of funds searching for their unique wedge.

What makes Legacy25 stand out isn’t the capital, the strategy, or even the timing.

It’s who’s involved.

College sports have always been about legacy: the rivalries, the traditions, the epic, history-making moments.

But for decades, one thing was missing from that legacy: athletes having a seat at the table.

The athletes who built the spectacle and gave their hearts to the game never had a hand in shaping the business behind it.

That’s what makes this fund different and interesting.

This isn’t faceless capital from Wall Street.

This is a fund backed by athletes who lived in dorms, wore the jerseys, and carried the weight of representing their schools every Saturday.

In college sports, it can’t just be about capital.

Emotions run too deep. For many fans, this isn’t just entertainment, it’s a religion.

That means success isn’t built on money alone.

It’s built on empathy, relatability, and community.

By bringing in athletes who understand this, Legacy25 isn’t just entering the ecosystem armed with money.

They’re bringing credibility and individuals who know how to connect to this world.

And that may be the ultimate advantage in a college sports investment landscape that will face unprecedented competition and attention over the next several years.

• Blue Jeans Golf Raises $20M. Blue Jeans Golf, a golf investment and management company pioneering the Golf Lite category, announced the close of the first round of its $20 million Series B funding round, led by Old Tom Capital and Creator Sports Capital. Founded in 2021 by Devin Charhon and Michael Canfield, Blue Jeans Golf is focused on building the Golf Lite category through strategic investment, innovation, and hands-on operations. Golf Ranch, the company's tech-enabled driving range brand, is a leading example, creating a physical and digital space for golfers to connect with the game and each other. This round will fund Golf Ranch's 2026 growth pipeline, enabling the acquisition and development of new sites nationwide (more here).

• Model Health Raises $1M. Model Health, an AI-powered platform to analyze human movement for digital health and sports performance, has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Apex Capital, with participation from Syndicate One, LeanSquare, imec.istart, and several strategic angels, including high-profile physical therapists, tech founders, and a European footballer. The capital will be used to bring lab-grade movement into the hands of physical therapists and athletic trainers worldwide (more here).

• PlayMaker Software Raises $1M. PlayMaker Software, an AI platform that helps increase automation, collaboration, and visibility within live sports & entertainment sponsorships, has closed a $1 million funding round. Precursor Ventures led the round, while Antler, Incisive Ventures, and several angel investors also participated. The funding will help PlayMaker hire more engineers and grow its customer base. The company was founded in 2024 by Hannah Sorkin and Sameer Mehra (more here).

• Apollo Announces $5B Sports Investment Vehicle. Apollo Global Management, a global private equity firm, plans to launch a $5 billion sports investment vehicle. The strategy will focus on lending to sports leagues and teams, as well as acquiring stakes in clubs. Apollo has been increasing its exposure to the sports sector. Earlier this year, it made a loan of £80 million (about $109 million) to Nottingham Forest Football Club. In July, the firm was also reported to be in talks with Atlético Madrid to acquire a minority stake in a deal that would value the Spanish club at up to €3 billion (about $3.5 billion) (more here).

• New York Giants Sell 10% Stake In Team. The Tisch and Mara families, majority owners of the New York Giants, sold a 10% stake to Julia Koch and members of the billionaire Koch family. The Mara family has owned the team since 1925. In 1991, the Tisch family bought half of the club. Julia Koch, the widow of David Koch, who is worth over $78 billion, and the family have been investing in New York sports assets. They acquired 15% of BSE Global, the parent company of the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty, and Barclays Center, in 2024 at a $6 billion valuation. The Giants are now the third-most valuable NFL team, with a valuation of $10.25 billion according to Sportico (more here).

• McLaren F1 Team Valued At Over $5B. The McLaren Formula 1 team has been valued at about $5 billion (£3.5 billion) as a result of a change in ownership structure. MSP Capital, a global sports private equity firm, which bought a 33% shareholding in McLaren Racing five years ago, has been bought out by majority shareholder Mumtalakat, Bahrain's sovereign investment fund, and Abu Dhabi-based CYVN Holdings. MSP spent £185 million on its stake, which at the time valued McLaren Racing at £560 million (more here).

• Roustan Capital Acquires True Hockey. Roustan Capital, the family office of W. Graeme Roustan, has agreed to acquire TRUE Hockey, a high-performance hockey equipment manufacturer, from TRUE Temper Sports. True Hockey has become the fastest-growing brand in the sport, highlighted by the No. 1 market share position in both Custom Skates and Custom Goalie gear. As part of the transaction, TRUE Hockey’s global operations will transfer to W. Graeme Roustan, including the Lefebvre family’s iconic goalie factory in Terrebonne, Quebec; the Scott Van Horne skate factory in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and the European Union headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden. Terms of the deal were not disclosed (more here).

• Crypto.com & Underdog Announce Partnership. Underdog, a sports gaming company, has partnered with the US derivatives arm of Crypto.com, a cryptocurrency exchange company, to allow customers to wager on sporting leagues through event contracts. This makes Underdog the first gaming platform to enter the prediction market, allowing fans to trade outcomes of major sports events while combining fantasy sports, sportsbook, and prediction markets in one platform. The contracts will allow users to trade across all major sports leagues, including the NFL, college football, the NBA, and the MLB (more here).

• TDK & ASICS Announce Partnership. TDK, a leading electronic components company, and ASICS announced a joint research project to analyze athletes' movements using motion sensing technology. The ultimate goal is better athletic performance. TDK will provide its proprietary high-precision sensor technology to detect fine movements by athletes, aided by ASICS’ data analysis. TDK will also develop solutions that provide advice and coaching to athletes and will contribute to the development of shoes and tools (more here).

• ICC & Google Announce Partnership. The International Cricket Council (ICC) and Google are collaborating to increase the visibility of women’s cricket worldwide. The partnership, solely focused on women’s cricket, will see the ICC utilize Google’s advanced technology and commitment to supporting women’s sports, improving fan engagement, and increasing accessibility. Google will also use its products, including Android, Google Gemini, Google Pay, and Google Pixel, to enhance the fan experience (more here).

• Gary Payton II Announces Co-ed Skateboard League. NBA free agent Gary Payton II is stepping into a new arena, launching a professional skateboard league called the Skate Board Association (SBA). The league will debut next summer in Big Bear Lake, California, with six coed teams competing in a 10-game inaugural season. Payton, who last played for the Golden State Warriors, co-founded the SBA with Royce Campbell and Sheldon Lewis, drawing inspiration from his lifelong passion for skateboarding. The SBA aims to change the way skateboarders are supported, offering salaries, bonuses, revenue sharing from merchandise, and equal pay for men and women (more here).

• Angel Reese Joins The TOGETHXR Ownership Group. Chicago Sky star Angel Reese joined the ownership group of TOGETHXR, a media and commerce company that focuses on women's sports. TOGETHXR was founded in 2021 by United States women's soccer legend Alex Morgan, 13-time WNBA All-Star Sue Bird, two-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer Simone Manuel, and two-time Olympic gold medalist snowboarder Chloe Kim. 2014 US Women's Open champion Michelle Wie West also became an investor in May (more here).

• CNBC Releases 2025 NFL Team Valuations. CNBC released its updated list of NFL valuations. Eleven NFL teams are now valued at $8 billion or more, up from just two a year ago, according to CNBC’s calculations. The Dallas Cowboys, worth $12.5 billion, retained their spot as the league’s most valuable team. The Los Angeles Rams, valued at $10.7 billion, are the second-most-valuable team. Average team revenue during the 2024 season reached $687 million, up 7.3% from the previous year. That increase was fueled largely by national revenue from television, licensing, and sponsorship proceeds shared equally among the 32 franchises (more here).

• Oakland Ballers Will Be First Professional Sports Team Managed By AI. Oakland Ballers manager Aaron Miles will leave it to artificial intelligence to decide when to pinch-hit or replace his pitcher. The playoff-bound Ballers of the independent Pioneer League are turned to AI to manage most aspects of this weekend’s home game against the Great Falls Voyagers at Raimondi Park. Co-founder Paul Freedman also said the club will host the first AI-powered professional sporting event on Fan Appreciation Day (more here).

• Pickleball Is Just Getting Started In China. While the US pickleball craze is still going strong, China’s is only just getting started. Online sales of pickleball paddles and related equipment in China have skyrocketed this year to an average of $1.2 million in monthly sales as of July, an increase of more than sixfold versus the year-ago period. The sport has also been getting a lift from social media influencers and the resurgence of tennis in China, thanks in part to Chinese tennis player Zheng Qinwen winning the country’s first Olympic gold medal in tennis singles last summer (more here).

This week’s guest on the Vetted Sports podcast is Rebecca Kacaba.

Rebecca Kacaba is the CEO and Co-Founder of DealMaker.

DealMaker is a disruptor in the capital markets, transforming the way leading brands raise private capital through technology.

DealMaker Sports has helped numerous sports organizations raise community funding.

In this episode, we discuss:
‣ The inception story behind DealMaker and how it helps teams crowdfund
‣ Examples of organizations that have raised millions on the platform
‣ Where she sees the future of sports ownership for fans

Check out the full episode here: Apple | Spotify | YouTube