A number of major sports franchises have sold in the past couple of months, led by the record $12.5 billion sale of the Los Angeles Lakers, a league-record $9.6 billion sale of the Seattle Seahawks, and sales of the Los Angeles Angels, San Diego Padres, Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx, among others. Baseball’s premier franchise, the New York Yankees, took an investment from alternative investing firm Apollo at a valuation of close to $10 billion, and sports investing firm Arctos bought a stake in the Atlanta Falcons at a valuation of more than $10 billion, its fourth NFL stake. With a natural scarcity of assets, valuable media rights, and the rise of sports betting, franchises are seen as a strong long-term investment, and valuations are starting to reflect that.

While it is nearly impossible for the everyday investor to get access to major sports franchises, there are opportunities across the sports ecosystem that can present even greater potential returns.

Franchise valuations have skyrocketed, and private equity’s relatively recent jump into sports team investing has transformed the asset class. What used to be a vanity asset for the extremely wealthy has become a legitimate investment opportunity, but access to major sports franchises is limited.

In some respects, though, major sports franchises are similar to established big tech companies - low risk assets with a lower ceiling on returns. For an investor in the Lakers to make comparable annual returns to the Buss family, long-time owners of the franchise, the Lakers would have to be worth more than $45 billion by 2035. While it is possible, it is unlikely that the exponential growth of major league sports franchise values is sustainable long-term.

Contrast that with Unrivaled, the 3-on-3 women’s basketball league that was co-founded by WNBA stars in 2023 and played its first season last year. The league just raised $100 million at a valuation of $650 million, nearly double the valuation it had last September. The potential return on investment is significantly higher for Unrivaled than a major sports franchise simply because there is more room to grow. Of course, there is more risk, but the recent fundraise speaks to growing investor interest in secondary league sports.

It is not just franchises that present opportunities, but also sports tech startups, “sportstainment” businesses that combine sports and entertainment such as TopGolf or PopStroke, sports-related real estate and hospitality ventures, and much more. These categories do not get as much attention or media coverage as franchise sales, but deserve consideration from investors.

One of the attributes that makes sports investing attractive is the relative scarcity of opportunities, but this makes it difficult for everyday investors to get access. A brand-new fund - The Champion Fund - was founded to address that gap and ensure that everyone can get access to one of the fastest-growing sectors in private market investing. The Champion Fund believes that emerging leagues like Unrivaled are just one type of asset worth exploring within the wider sports category.

Led by two former professional athletes, The Champion Fund is a new sports-focused SEC-registered interval fund that offers everyone the ability to get exposure across the entire sports ecosystem. Because of their deep background in sports and investing, the team has direct access to investment opportunities to go with their long track record of raising and deploying capital successfully.

Co-founder Marques Colston is a Super Bowl champion who played for a decade in the NFL, and has owned or co-owned four professional sports franchises, in addition to being a former investment adviser who held Series 7 and 66 certifications. Co-founder Nick Edwards is a former professional MMA fighter who has worked inside major professional sports leagues and has built and led businesses across private equity, venture capital, and real estate. Partner Chuck Pettid has two decades of experience raising institutional capital and was a founding team member at Republic, working with more than a dozen professional sports teams.

The Champion Fund’s view is direct - the major sports leagues have already made their valuation leap, and emerging leagues like Unrivaled are one of five categories worth exploring in the wider sports economy. The categories are Teams & Leagues, Sports Tech, Media & Services, Real Estate & Hospitality, and Thematic Funds. The first category, Teams & Leagues, is self-explanatory, but the Champion Fund is particularly targeting smaller leagues across the globe with greater long-term appreciation potential. Within Sports Tech the fund is looking for growth-stage sports-related startups that are changing the way the industry operates. Media & Services encompasses established and emerging sports media, content, and service businesses. Sports-driven Real Estate & Hospitality businesses reflect the modern landscape where urban stadiums anchor neighborhoods and sports-related entertainment options anchor retail centers. Thematic Funds are other sports-focused funds that allow The Champion Fund to broaden its own portfolio through LP and GP stakes.

By holding stakes in companies across these five categories, The Champion Fund allows anyone to get access to the entirety of the sports asset class. It has already been featured in publications such as CNBC, Fortune, Forbes, Bloomberg, and more.

The Champion Fund offers a combination of access to an existing portfolio of high-quality sports-related assets and a team with a strong track record in both the sports and investing industries. With an accessible minimum investment, TCF is open to everyone and is truly democratizing an asset class that has historically been off-limits to retail investors.

Specifically, TCF is targeting opportunities that institutional capital is overlooking in favor of the major sports leagues. TCF understands that sports are not one asset class, but a series of different types of businesses that happen to share an audience, meaning that each opportunity needs to be underwritten differently. Through their connections in the industry, the team is regularly presented with investment opportunities and only choose the ones led by experienced operators with the right combination of current positioning and potential upside. 

The fund is SEC-registered, meaning it has mandatory disclosure requirements to follow, ensuring transparency for investors. There is a simple fee structure with no carried interest. The fund’s net asset value (NAV) will be marked daily, so investors will always know where they stand. It also will offer semiannual repurchase offers for 5% of the Fund's outstanding shares at NAV, starting next August. Offers may be oversubscribed and prorated.

TCF also has already made an investment that projects to be a big winner - one that anyone who invests in their fund will get exposure to.

Sports is an asset class that everyone knows but almost nobody can access. The Champion Fund is changing that, allowing everyone to invest with an experienced, knowledgeable team and into a strong existing portfolio.