FEATURED STORY
We Sat Down With Sports’ Leading Decisionmakers
Our Live Show at Michigan Sport Business Conference.
Last Friday, we took a trip to the Michigan Sport Business Conference — the largest of its kind in the country — to do a live show of The 4th Quarter.
We curated one of the best rooms in sports business with a rotating seat of Commissioners, Team Owners, Executives, and Investors:
[1:31] Tim Pernetti - Commissioner of The American Conference
[10:28] Roger Ehrenberg - Founder & Managing Partner of Game Changers Ventures
[19:30] Brian Weinstein - Co-CEO of 3 Arts Entertainment
[29:58] Ferran Prieto - CEO & Managing Director of Gasol16 Ventures
[36:39] Nikhil Panu - SVP of Growth at Novig
The show is second to none, you’re in for a treat.
Two of our favorite gems in our conversations:
Tim Pernetti on private equity entering college sports.
“I think it’s time for college sports to embrace it. But in college sports nobody wants to be first, right?...If these deals can illustrate that outside investment and experts they bring and [the deal flow] that they can bring can create a more valuable asset and generate more revenue because college is very undervalued, then I think it’ll be a feeding frenzy on these deals.”
“But I’d imagine whoever gets there first is going to get better terms than who gets their last.”
Pernetti had a special take. He’s interested in embracing change through private capital.
If the college athletics monetization model was already so good…why is it dealing with so many challenges today?
NIL & Transfer Portal. Operating losses. Cutting Olympic sports programs.
The American Conference colleges know exactly how much money they’re receiving from the conference through it’s TV rights deal, and the typical choice is to ride that out. But what if, programs can take a sliver off that revenue — receive less from the conference - but get tens of millions in lump sum that can be used to invest in the commercial infrastructure that’s already outdated. That could be key to boost terminal value.
The Commissioner says that discussions of private equity partnerships is a sign of intellectual evolution.
Roger Ehrenberg on the NFL & General Atlantic’s new sports fund.
Just days before, the NFL announced a strategic partnership with $130B growth equity giant, General Atlantic, to launch a new investment fund. Naturally, we had to ask one of the most prolific sports investors what his thoughts were.
“It was about freaking time…they have too much power, too much access, and too much opportunity to have it be like a hobby.”
The NFL is the most powerful governing body within sports which can uniquely lift portfolio companies.
In terms of providing fans better experiences, greater technology, stadium development, and extending live experiences to other venues — this seems to be a huge win-win for the NFL and growth-stage businesses looking for a key strategic partnership.
What Roger is most excited about: This is the best time for early-stage companies to build in sports because you now have a viable downstream partner with turnkey access instead of having to cobble up capital from a fragmented ecosystem of sports funds and family offices.
Looks like sports investing has never been hotter before…
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Expect more amazing guests on The 4th Quarter soon.