Sports Markets and the Sports Economy

By Mike Vorkunov/The Star-Ledger 
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on May 25, 2013 at 7:00 AM, updated May 25, 2013 at 3:11 PM

Two months ago, the National Football League announced its newest, and perhaps most intriguing, path to widening its already expansive revenue stream. The league would partner with a prominent private equity company to invest in media projects. Long just a football-only conglomeration, it has moved on to extend its brand into other worlds.

The NFL is the first professional sports league to unveil a venture capital arm. Already a $9.5 billion enterprise, the NFL remains in search of growth. In 2010, commissioner Roger Goodell, according to several reports, expressed a desire to take in $25 billion in revenue by 2027. Reaching that goal means it must do more than just sell its sport.

Brian McCarthy, a league spokesman, said the NFL’s continuing evolution was the impetus.

“We are much more than a game on the field,” McCarthy said. “As our core business, we always focus on that, but it’s a sports and entertainment and media venture that the NFL has spun into. At one point it was just a game, but we’ve seen the value it has to other businesses. We see the value it has to Madison Avenue. We see the value it has to our media partners. So we’re continuing looking for ways to grow our business, expand the footprint of the NFL.”

The league will team with Providence Equity Partners in its new undertaking. The NFL will invest $32 million — $1 million per team. All profits will be doled out equally to teams, like its television rights.

Eric Grubman, the league’s executive vice president of business and a former Goldman Sachs executive, is running the venture. It was formerly run by current Jets team president Neil Glat.

Providence Equity Partners, according to a SportsBusiness Journal report, will commit $250 million. Calls to Providence for comment were not returned.

The company and the league will have an equal stake in running the operation.

“The NFL is contributing the shield, which does have a massive amount of value as an intangible,” said Rob Tilliss, founder and CEO of Inner Circle Sports, an investment bank that focuses on the sports world. “So you could argue it’s pretty equal footing.”

Although the NFL announced in a statement that it would focus on investing in “sports- and entertainment-related media assets,” McCarthy said the NFL will not limit itself to investing in companies that are solely and/or tangentially related to football.

“No,” he said. “It could have some application that could have nothing to do, at the core, with football.”

Calling the NFL a “fairly mature” business, Tilliss noted that the league has to expand in inventive ways if it hopes to hit Goodell’s goal in 14 years. There is potential for the NFL abroad. Regular-season games have been played in London in recent years, and the league is committed to more games in the years to come.

The NFL, as it frequently has been, may also be a trendsetter. If the move works and becomes another staple in bringing in revenue, it may end up being just the first pro sports league to move into the investment world.

“Typically, the leagues all watch what each other do,” Tilliss said. “If they see there’s some success, I wouldn’t be surprised it popping up in other places.”