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For a long time, owning a piece of a professional sports team was considered more of a status symbol than a sound investment strategy. That perception is changing, and the numbers are beginning to reflect it. According to a survey published by The Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), half of all family offices either already have money in sports or are looking to get there. Exactly 25% have already made investments in sports assets, ranging from team ownership stakes to ticketing infrastructure and arena real estate, and another 25% told the bank they are interested in doing so.
The survey, titled “Adapting to the Terrain,” is based on responses from 245 family office decision-makers worldwide, marking the highest participation in its three-year history. Respondents were geographically diverse, with 47% from the Americas, 26% from EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa), and 27% from APAC (Asia-Pacific). While the report spans a broad range of investment themes, its findings on sports stand out as particularly notable, especially given how recently institutional-style investment in the sector has become accessible.
So what is drawing family offices into locker rooms and stadium deals? A few things. Goldman Sachs co-head of global private wealth management Meena Flynn noted that family offices see sports as a hedge against inflation, given the multiple revenue streams involved, including streaming rights and ticketing. Those streams tend to hold up even in difficult economic climates. Goldman’s report also pointed to climbing valuations over the past decade and the possibility for long-term value appreciation, driven in part by the widening of sports franchise ownership to permit more institutional capital, including from private equity.
A separate survey from BNY Mellon arrived at similar conclusions. That study of 282 family offices found that 33% had invested in sports, and BNY Wealth’s chief investment officer, Sinead Colton Grant, told CNBC in June that family offices were increasingly treating sports assets as an inflation hedge. Two independent surveys arriving at comparable figures, from different pools of respondents, adds weight to the idea that this is more than a passing trend.
The deal flow in this last year has been hard to ignore. Guggenheim Partners CEO Mark Walter agreed in June to acquire a majority stake in the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers at a valuation of $10 billion. That deal quickly set a new benchmark for the value that buyers are willing to assign to a professional sports franchise. In September, Julia Koch and her family agreed to purchase a 10% stake in the NFL’s New York Giants at a valuation exceeding $10.5 billion, surpassing the Lakers figure and setting a new record for a limited partner transaction in the NFL. Earlier in May, the Khosla family, led by Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla and AI company CEO Neal Khosla, joined two other Bay Area families in purchasing a roughly 6% combined stake in the San Francisco 49ers at an $8.6 billion valuation.
NFL owners also approved additional minority stake sales at their fall meeting, including an 8% stake in the New England Patriots acquired at a $9.7 billion valuation. The league had only opened its ownership structure to private equity and outside investors the year before, and the pace of activity since then suggests significant pent-up demand from wealthy families who had long been shut out.
After major men’s league teams, the most attractive sports investments for family offices are streaming technology at 31%, venues and real estate at 31%, and gaming at 26%. This spread shows that family offices are not simply chasing team ownership as a vanity play. They are looking at the full ecosystem around sports, from the infrastructure that hosts events to the digital platforms that distribute them. Goldman’s report found that 61% of family offices see media and content as the major driver of future value in sports.
The gender gap in the data, however, is worth noting. While 71% of family offices expressed interest in men’s major leagues, only 19% indicated past investment or interest in women’s established leagues, and a smaller 16% showed interest in either women’s emerging leagues or men’s minor leagues. Women’s sports have attracted considerable public attention, and several leagues have grown meaningfully in recent years, but that broader narrative has not yet translated into proportional investment appetite among the ultra-wealthy.
Goldman’s co-head of global private wealth management also noted that family offices tend to invest opportunistically when other market participants retreat, as many did in April when tariff announcements rattled markets. Their freedom from outside investors allows them to stay committed through difficult periods and hold assets across multiple generations. That patient capital approach is exactly why sports, which can take years to appreciate and requires tolerance for illiquidity, is a natural fit for this investor class. The question is no longer whether family offices belong in professional sports. The deals being done suggest that question has already been answered.
