A Piece of the Action - investing in professional sports leagues and related businesses

Oct 13, 2026

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A Piece of the Action special edition reviews how private equity ownership rules are changing for professional sports leagues and related businesses. The issue analyzes team valuations and profitability, emerging sports categories, streaming and broadcast revenues, and the decline of regional sports networks. It covers league parity drivers, relegation and financial pressures in the English Premier League, stadium subsidies, sports betting, adjacent businesses, and esports fundamentals, supported by tables of ownership limits and league regulations.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages39

Reading Time14 min

AccessFree to download

What are private equity funds planning on investing in and lending to?

Valuations, transactions, debt levels and operating margins for the four major US sports leagues

The streaming wars and the decline of regional sports networks

In-person attendance trends and ticket price inflation

League parity benefits owners in US sports leagues, but not in Europe

Primary drivers of professional sports parity: revenue-sharing, the draft and salary caps

European soccer: relegation, rising player salaries, rotten returns to public investors and new regulations

International and emerging sports: an update the MLS, F1 and start-up efforts in various sports

Stadiums and subsidies: a controversial source of value for sports team owners

Adjacent businesses: examples in apparel, image management and player management

Sports betting: Supreme Court rulings, parlays and fantasy sports regulatory arbitrage

The esports winter continues: poor business fundamentals, layoffs and league terminations

Appendix I: US sports leagues mostly function as unregulated monopolies under the Sherman Act

Appendix II: The Worst Team that Money Can Buy

Appendix III: The best basketball players of all time

Appendix IV: Valuations, revenues, debt and operating income by team

Appendix V: The Ronaldo effect of departing players

EYE ON THE MARKET | SPECIAL EDITION Investing in professional sports leagues and related businesses. As rules around private equity ownership of sports leagues expand, we review team valuations and profitability, emerging sports categories, streaming and broadcast revenues, the decline of regional sports networks, drivers and comparisons of league parity, relegation and financial pressures in the English Premier League, stadium subsidies, sports betting and other adjacent businesses, antitrust issues, theesports winter, the worst teams that money can buy and the best basketball players of all time. By Michael Cembalest | Chairman of Market and Investment Strategy for J. P. Morgan Asset & Wealth Management A piece of the action: investing in professional sports leagues and related businesses I’ve never written on sports team ownership before. The simple reason: historically it has been confined to a small cohort of extremely wealthy individuals. The chart shows the estimated net worth of current control owners in basketball, football, baseball and hockey. The majority are individuals whose net worth ranges from $1 to $10 billion, and we had to use a log scale to capture the ones higher than that. In other words, sports team ownership has typically not been accessible to the average individual or diversified institutional investor. Net worth of major league sports team control owners US$, billions, log scale $100. $10. $1. $0.1 | | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | NBA | | | | | | NFL
MLB | | | | NHL | | | | | | | | | Source: JPMAM, May 2024 Ownership rules have been changing. Most major US sports leagues now allow a select group of private equity funds to own minority stakes in individual teams, and for the same funds to own multiple stakes in multiple teams. The table shows the latest rules as we understand them. The ownership of minority stakes has become more popular in recent years; 45% of global sports deals in 2023 were minority investments, and ~60% of sports deals in the big four US sports were minority investments1. With the latest rule changes, select funds and their LPs can increasingly invest in franchise minority stakes alongside individuals. North American leagues' private equity rules | | Year first
allowed | Maximum private equity ownership of a single team across firms | Maximum private equity ownership of a team by a single fund | \# of teams a
fund can own | Sovereign Wealth Funds permitted? | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | NBA | 2021 | 30% | 20% | 5 | ✓ | | MLB | 2019 | 30% | 15% | Unlimited | | | NHL | 2021 | 30% | 20% | 5 | ✓ | | MLS | 2020 | 30% | 20% | 4 | | | NFL | Pending | Pending | Pending | Pending | | Source: Bloomberg, Sportico, 2024 Sports investing extends well beyond ownership of professional sport franchises and includes companies focused on real estate, media, operations, collectibles, personal fitness, player management, sports betting and more. This Eye on the Market special issue looks at valuations, team operating margins, drivers of league parity (revenue-sharing, salary caps), broadcast and streaming revenues, attendance and ticket prices, comparisons to European soccer, emerging sports leagues, the controversy around stadium subsidies, sports betting and other adjacent businesses, the esports winter, the worst teams money can buy and a trichotomy chart showing the best basketball players of all time. Michael Cembalest JP Morgan Asset Management 1 “Deloitte’s 2024 Sports Investment Outlook”, Deloitte, March 2024. Currently, there are 24 minority owners in the MLB, 138 in the NBA and 90 in the NFL Table of Contents What are private equity funds planning on investing in and lending to? .............................................................. 3 Valuations, transactions, debt levels and operating margins for the four major US sports leagues ....................... 4 The streaming wars and the dec

FAQs

Why does the issue focus on private equity ownership of sports teams?

It explains that ownership rules are expanding, allowing select private equity funds to own minority stakes in teams and across multiple teams, making sports investing more accessible than historically.

What factors are used to assess valuations and profitability across major US leagues?

The issue examines valuations, transactions, debt levels, and operating margins, alongside drivers of league parity such as revenue-sharing, salary caps, and the draft.

How does the issue treat streaming and broadcast revenue trends?

It reviews streaming wars and the decline of regional sports networks, tying these shifts to broader revenue dynamics affecting teams and owners.

Oct 13, 2026

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