Sport as an investment asset class was once the preserve of passion projects for the super-wealthy: you need only to watch Rush and recall Hesketh Racing, which gave James Hunt his first foray into F1, to see how many an owner of sports teams in years gone by used to treat their investment.

However, those days seem like a bygone era, not simply due to changing attitudes from investors into sport but actually more through the more ascertainable means of revenue generation and enhanced regulation within sports which can propel both teams and sports association into financially profitable territory.

Another benefit to private capital investing into sport is the benefit of such private capital investors viewing sport investments in the long term. While typical private equity or venture capital investments may have a typical shelf life of 3-5 years, which can typically be too short a time period for seeing meaningful changes made within a sports team or sports association in respect of an investment (beyond merely its balance sheet) and would change the dynamic away from a ‘partnership’ between investor and team to a more transactional relationship.

This article was published in CityAM on 20 December 2025: to read the full article, please click here.