What are optimistic and lower sports investors in 2025?

Earlier this year, I asked many bankers, investors and advisers in which areas of the sports business industry they buy, sell and hold in 2025. Here is a break in what industry experts keep a vigilant eye throughout the calendar year.

Female sports, creators focused on creators, sports for young people are “purchases” in 2025

Vasu Kulkarni, partner of CourtSIDE Ventures, said that he “ Buying “emerging sports leagues focused on creators, who have an integrated audience of the first day,” thus considerably accelerating business growth. ” For example, Courtside is an investor in Baller League, a football league of six emerging counter-six distributed via streaming platforms. In recent years, non -traditional sports and entertainment entities, such as Jomboy Media, Bleacher Report and Barstool Sports, have managed to take advantage of their individual talent thanks to new competitions and sports formats.

Likewise, Greg Bettinelli, partner of the Chernin group, is optimistic about the sports and the intellectual property of creators and influencers. He cited the feeling of Youtube M. Beast as well as the professional golfer Bryson Dechambeau, who has prioritized the multimedia platform In the past 18 months and more.

“We see a lot of opportunities for new formats in beloved sports such as basketball, golf and football,” said Bettinelli.

Several investors such as Jay Adya, director director of Elysian Park Ventures, and Bettinelli said that sports for young people were also a “ buy ”, “in particular companies that can stimulate participation in the first sports for young people”, according to Adya. His global investment group is currently supporting companies like Snap! Mobile, a software platform that supports fundraising for sports communities and rupture data, a sports analysis company.

Bettinelli is a supporter of team sports, in particular baseball, softball, football flag, volleyball, butt and joy and dance. In other words, youth sports with “differentiated and unique experiences of experiences that families will appreciate and remember”.

“Sports for young people develop as athletes, parents and coaches access and use technology to allow access to real -time data, personalized training recommendations and more sophisticated performance monitoring,” added Wayne Kimmel, director of Seventysix Capital.

Meanwhile, Brian Kopp, partner at Ryan Sports Ventures, is optimistic about the American Football Fandom. Of the impact of Lionel Messi on the MLS and the increased impulse of the NWSL Towards a 16 team league In 2026, Kopp declared “we finally see traction and the fandom of the real market” and “see the potential in all aspects of the beautiful game” before the World Cup based in North America in 2026.

“Everything to do with the 2026 World Cup in the United States” is a “purchase”, said Bettinelli of the Chernin group. The North America-based tournament, which will include 48 teams, marks the first time that the event is organized in three countries: Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Several bankers and investors, such as Kopp and Kimmel, also called female sports – where Advertisers spent $ 244 million in 2024An increase of 139% from one year to the next – as an opportunity for continuous growth. However, its ceiling is still the assumption of anyone. The leaders cited the NWSL with WNBA as key areas, in addition to basketball and women’s volleyball. In 2025, worldwide female sports income should reach $ 2.35 billion, by a new report of the consulting and management company Deloitte.

New leagues, sports game, F1 remain a “ hold ” for sports investors

Sal Galatioto, president of Galatioto Sports Partners, said that he would “hold” university sports “until the whole landscape has more certainty”. The Bettinelli of the Chernin group said that male university sports were also a “neutral” for him. “Everyone is suitable that university football is undermining and everyone pays a lot of attention, but the next few years will probably be chaotic,” he said. “And the players who are paid what they deserve will make the construction of real companies difficult.”

Formula 1 is also a “maintenance” for him. “What will they do so that more fans are committed in the long term?” said Bettinelli, who commented on the “incredible work of the company presenting sport to the Americans”, including the Rise of Netflix’s All-Access F1 Show Survive During the coronavirus pandemic.

Kulkarni de Courtside also considers sports betting companies as a “take”. At the end of 2024, “an unprecedented number of favorites won matches and produced massive defeats for sports books,” he said. “Expect that more states in the United States legalize sports betting in 2025 while they are looking for new sources of income with tax discounts from the inbound administration.”

Likewise, Kopp of Ryan Sports Ventures closely follows the sports game industry, because more and more states regulate practice. There are around 40 states and DC which legalized sports betting. Said Kopp, “there is a dark potential side to allow addictive and sometimes destructive behavior to be so easily accessible. Growth will continue, but I am afraid that we are starting to see part of the disadvantage.”

He also keeps a vigilant eye on “new twists and turns on existing sports”, or in other words, several new leagues that have changed traditional sports such as TGL in golf and unequaled in women’s basketball. The first has exceeded the television windows of last year With 513,000 average viewers during its inaugural regular season, according to Sports Media Watch, while the latter recorded an average of 186,000 viewers before his last week of the regular season. “These new leagues have gone to strong departures, but it is not clear if their novelty will eventually disappear,” said Kopp.

Managers pour cold water on an inherited ticket office, PE in university sports

Kulkarni of Courtside, which founded the sports data analysis company based in New York, Krossover and sold it in 2017 in Blue Star Sports, based in Dallas, is down to traditional cable sports distribution networks which “continue to feel the heat of streaming platforms that seek more and more sub-feeds ”.

In addition, there were several bankers and sports investors, including Adya of Elysian Park Ventures, who said they were selling Private Equity’s investment in university sports this year. Adya said that he “feels as university sports has many fundamental problems to settle before capital capital becomes a significant driver”. This includes other railings around the transfer portal and global governance around the college ecosystem, he said.

In January, Sportico reported That Big Ten took preliminary offers from investment capital companies, while a year ago, Big 12 would have started discussions with the investment company CVC Capital Partnerswhich would inject $ 800 to 1 billion for a 15% to 20% participation in the athletics conference.

Meanwhile, Ryan Sports Ventures Kopp is less optimistic about inherited sports ticket platforms, such as Ticketmaster and Paciolan. He said that the ticketing experience was not friendly, the inherited systems being “heavy” and “difficult to share”. KOPP said: “Emerging platforms will hope, we hope, push this part of the market to modernize to meet the expectations of fans.”

The Bettinelli of the Chernin group said it short-circuited professional sports teams dependent on the rights of regional media-“this money never comes back,” he said-and professional level combat leagues.

“While unique formats could draw short-term attention, sustainability and long-term monetization for lower level and niche combat sports,” said Bettinelli, adding that he is tearing in European football clubs outside the United Kingdom.

“The Premier League is already the Super League and a natural magnet for the World and American Fandom,” he said.