🔊 This Investment Firm Invested Millions Into The Texas Rangers & Here’s Why

This week, sports-focused investment firm Sportsology Capital Partners (SCP) acquired a minority stake in the Texas Rangers.

SCP was launched in 2023 alongside the strategic advisory firm Sportsology Group.

Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed, but the team is valued between $2.45 billion and $2.75 billion.

This deal also comes after they acquired a minority stake in the French SailGP team last year with Ares Management.

With its first fund, Sportsology will primarily focus on minority stakes in the top five US sports leagues (NBA, NFL, NHL, MLS, MLB), and adjacent sports media and entertainment platforms.

The firm also plans to make fewer than 10 deals and will likely not target sports technology companies.

Why This Matters? 

MLB might not be the first league private equity looks to invest in, but that might be changing.

Let’s dive into why.

First, the big five US sports leagues check all the boxes for private equity firms looking for allocation into sports:

These are long-term assets that tend to hold value.

That’s exactly the kind of profile many funds want right now.

The problem is price.

Look at the NFL and NBA.

The Dallas Cowboys are valued at around $13 billion.

The Golden State Warriors are pushing $10 billion.

The average NFL team is worth around $7 billion.

The average NBA team is worth around $5.5 billion.

Getting exposure at those prices isn’t easy, even for large funds.

But the MLB sits in a different range. The Yankees top the league at roughly $8 billion, but the average team value is closer to $2.6 billion.

Still expensive, but much more attainable for firms trying to build a portfolio of minority positions across major leagues.

Culturally, baseball might not have the same momentum or notoriety as the NFL or NBA.

Financially, though, it’s still one of the most stable leagues in the world.

League revenue has hit record highs in recent years. Sponsorship dollars continue to grow. And global stars like Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto continue to expand the game internationally.

Local media challenges are real, but they’re not stopping capital from moving in.

Plus, the league has been pushing towards more innovative strategies over the past couple of years.

For private equity firms looking for long-duration exposure to premium sports assets, minority stakes in baseball teams are starting to look like a pretty solid place to park capital.

And we expect to see more activity throughout this year.

• HUMAIN Acquires Majority Stake In Ai.io. HUMAIN, a PIF-backed AI company, has strategically acquired a controlling stake in Ai.io, an AI-driven talent analysis and development for sports. The investment supports HUMAIN’s long-term strategy to expand the application of artificial intelligence across a wide variety of industries, including sports. Financial details were not disclosed (more here).

• David Blitzer & Blue Pool Capital Invests In German SailGP Team. Bolt Ventures, the family office of David Blitzer, and Blue Pool Capital, an investment firm backed by Joe Tsai, have led a new funding round to invest in the German SailGP Team. Both will serve as minority investors in the team, which is owned by German media businessman Thomas Riedel, with prominent co-owners including former racing driver Sebastian Vettel and esports mogul Ralf Reichert. Financial details were not disclosed (more here).

• PTO Acquires Majority Stake In Challenge Family. The Professional Triathletes Organization (PTO), an athlete-owned body representing top-tier non-drafting professional triathletes, has acquired a majority shareholding in Challenge Family, the leading global triathlon festival race series, from Y11 Sport & Media. The agreement consolidates three major racing properties into a single global competition framework beginning in 2027. Financial details were not disclosed (more here).

• The Sports Facilities Companies Acquires RCI Sports Management. The Sports Facilities Companies, one of the US’s leading platforms for managing and developing sports, recreation, wellness, and events facilities, announced the acquisition of RCI Sports Management, a Texas-based firm known for its hands-on facility management, sponsorship activation, and event-driven revenue strategies across municipal and privately owned sports complexes. Financial details were not disclosed (more here).

• American Magic Acquires ROCKWOOL Racing SailGP Team. The ROCKWOOL Racing SailGP Team has been acquired from SailGP by leading sports investor and American Magic co-founder Doug DeVos for $60 million. The DeVos family owns the NBA’s Orlando Magic. The acquisition brings together three heavyweights of high-performance sport and innovation: SailGP, ROCKWOOL, and American Magic, now under one umbrella (more here).

• Genius Sports Partners & WPP Media Announce Partnership. Genius Sports, a global leader in sports technology, and WPP Media, a global media collective, have announced a strategic collaboration to develop a new intelligence tool to help brands make more precise investments in sports marketing. The tool is powered by Genius Sports’ Fan Graph, a dataset that tracks the identities and behaviors of more than 250 million US consumers (more here).

• Juventus FC, CDP Capital & The Players Fund Announce Partnership. Serie A football club Juventus FC has launched an open innovation program, Juventus Forward, in collaboration with CDP Venture Capital, an Italian-based investment firm, and The Players Fund, an athlete-led investment fund. Through the program, startups will work with the club to test, validate, develop, and showcase new technology (more here).

• Luka Doncic & Donnie Nelson Backed Investment Group Acquires Italian Basketball Team. Former Mavericks General Manager Donnie Nelson reached a preliminary agreement to acquire Italy’s Vanoli Basket Cremona and relocate the franchise to Rome. The acquisition positions the club for the projected 2027 debut of NBA Europe. NBA star Luka Doncic is a lead investor in the consortium, which includes international scout Roberto Carmenati and former player Rimantas Kaukenas (more here).

• Cade Cunningham Buys Ownership Stake In Texas Rangers. Detroit Pistons star guard Cade Cunningham has acquired a minority stake in his hometown team, the Texas Rangers, through Sportsology Partners. He joins Lebron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo as current NBA athletes with stakes in MLB franchises. Details around his stake were not disclosed (more here).

• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Invests In Hometown Hamilton Arena. Hamilton-born NBA star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has joined the ownership group of Hamilton’s TD Coliseum. Though financial terms were not disclosed, developer Oak View Group announced the news earlier this week, stating that the venue’s Ares Atrium will be named in tribute to Gilgeous-Alexander’s son (more here).

• Giannis Antetokounmpo Invests In Gopuff. Gopuff, a leading e-commerce delivery company, announced that NBA Champion and 2-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo has joined the company as a strategic partner and investor. Antetokounmpo will collaborate with the company on product development and distribution, content creation, and more (more here).

• How The Cleveland Browns Are Building A New Tech-Forward Stadium. Cleveland Browns CEO and Haslam Sports Group President Dave Jenkins sat down with Forbes to discuss the massive financial investment in a new tech-forward stadium in Cleveland and the integration of mixed-use real estate developments to drive revenue across the Haslam Sports Group portfolio (more here).

• How Pickleball Became America’s Fastest-Growing Sport Even Among Gen Z. Not long ago, pickleball was the punchline of the recreational sports world. A quirky name. An older demographic. Something you might stumble across at a local rec center between volleyball and basketball hours. Today, it’s one of the fastest-growing sports in America, and increasingly, around the world. And Gen Z is on the court (more here).

• The Wearable Tech That Lets Spectators Feel The Match. At the Tokyo Deaflympics, deaf Judo fans aren't just watching the matches, they're feeling them, thanks to Hapbeat vibrating devices that translate throws, footwork, claps, and buzzers into distinct physical sensations. Originally built for concerts, the tech uses sensors and human tuning to capture the nuance of live sport, giving spectators clear cues and a visceral sense of impact (more here).

This week’s guest on the Vetted Sports podcast is Jeremiah White.

Jeremiah White is a former professional soccer player turned entrepreneur and investor.

Currently, he is the principal owner of White Sports Ventures (WSV), a firm that operates at the intersection of media, technology, and live events to construct a sequenced ecosystem for the sport.

They focus on converting attention into trust, and trust into measurable economic outcomes for clubs, creators, and adjacent businesses.

WSV is also an operator-led venture studio. They architect and control the core components of this system, moving beyond singular verticals to integrate visibility, trust, and activation into a reinforcing loop.

The mission is systemic: to make soccer more legible, more financeable, and more sustainable for the operators who drive it forward.

In this episode, we discuss:
‣ How Jeremiah went from pro soccer to building a sports venture studio
‣ Acquiring and operating some of the top youth soccer brands
‣ The future of the youth soccer ecosystem

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

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