Good morning, ! It’s Thursday, and we’re tracking Cici Bellis’ pivot from pro tennis to venture capital, esports’ deepening grip on Gen Z fandom, and how Congress could upend the math behind billion-dollar franchise deals. Plus: Allegiant Stadium sets a new tech benchmark for fan experience, and private equity’s long game with Major League Baseball keeps paying off.

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DATA DIVE

PE’s Favorite League? Look No Further Than MLB

From 2007 to 2023, MLB franchise values soared 538%, trouncing the S&P 500’s 404% return. That’s not a typo. Sports teams—especially in baseball—have quietly become one of the most lucrative long-term asset classes. Average team valuation? $2.64B, up from just $431M in 2007. The driver? A cocktail of media deals, regional fan cults, and a 162-game monetization calendar. Bonus points: MLB is also the most PE-friendly league, with 60% of teams sporting some level of private equity involvement. Scarcity and fandom insulation make this asset class a home run—just don’t ask about the RSN situation. (Read or Listen to the Full Report)

MEDIA & SPORTS

Free-to-Air or Paywall? Streaming’s Crossroads in Sports Rights

Sports broadcasting is in flux. The rise of platforms like Amazon Prime Video and TNT Sports has ushered in an arms race for streaming rights—layering flexibility and digital perks (custom angles, stats, à la carte pricing) over the legacy model.

But in markets like the UK, regulatory guardrails still matter. The Listed Events regime mandates free-to-air coverage for select marquee events—including, since 2022, the Women’s FIFA World Cup Final and Women’s Euros Final. Recent deals reinforce this balance: the Guinness Six Nations will stay on BBC and ITV through 2029, with women’s and U20s rights also secured. Similarly, the Women’s Super League signed a five-year deal with Sky and BBC, starting 2025–26.

Yet cracks are forming. Most England cricket coverage may soon sit behind a paywall, signaling what could be a broader shift.

Bottom line: streaming fragmentation is accelerating, raising pressure on rights-holders to weigh short-term monetization against long-term reach. Investors should watch closely—distribution strategy is becoming a core lever of sports asset value. (More)

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INVESTOR CORNER

The Billion-Dollar Deduction Takedown

A House bill proposes halving the amortization deduction on intangible assets—from 100% to 50%. That’s bad news for team owners who count on those write-offs to offset losses and juice IRRs. For a $6.1B franchise deal, that’s a drop from $325M to $162.5M in annual deductions. Private equity sponsors, especially those in return-sensitive structures, now face tougher math. PE’s growing footprint across MLB, NBA, and MLS may slow or shift toward lower-valuation assets, like women’s leagues or international plays. Senate action pending—but the game clock’s running. (More)

ENTREPRENEURS

Cici Bellis Serves Up a $40M VC Fund

Former tennis pro Cici Bellis is making a fast impact in venture capital with a $40 million early-stage fund via Cartan Capital. The fund targets startups in sports, health tech, and wellness—areas Bellis knows well from her own athletic and recovery journey.

Since retiring in 2022, she’s built a growing portfolio that includes companies like Proto Hologram. Co-founding Cartan Capital, Bellis brings an athlete’s mindset to investing, backing founders at the intersection of health and performance.

She’s no longer on the court—but she’s still playing to win. (More)

COLLEGE ATHLETICS

NIL Dashboard Drops—And Men’s Basketball Tops the Charts

The NCAA's new anonymized NIL dashboard offers a rare look under the hood of college athlete compensation—and it confirms what insiders suspected: men’s basketball players are the highest earners, with average NIL earnings of $65,853 through July 2024.

This isn’t just about raw totals. It’s about efficiency. Basketball rosters are smaller, and the per-player average eclipses football by 64%, despite football driving 80% of media deal value. At the Power 4 level, the gap becomes a canyon: P4 men’s basketball players average $171K, compared to $15.8K (G5) and $21.2K (FCS/non-football).

The data, while limited to reported deals over $600, is set to become more robust as new disclosure rules kick in. For now, one thing’s clear: in the NIL economy, hoops has the higher ceiling.

Curious investors can dig into the dashboard here. Expect P4 conferences—and Big East outliers like Villanova—to keep shaping the top end of the curve. (More)

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TECH & INFRASTRUCTURE

Allegiant Stadium: Built for Bandwidth

Allegiant Stadium isn’t just NFL-ready — it’s data-ready. With T-Mobile’s Ultra Capacity 5G running through 62 iDAS sectors (including three dedicated to the field) and 7 oDAS sectors outside, fans enjoy 1.2 Gbps downloads and 200 Mbps uploads—even with 65,000 phones in the air. Behind the scenes, Microsoft Power BI dashboards track everything from crowd flow to sustainability, letting staff course-correct in real time. These permanent upgrades aren’t just for Super Bowl Sunday — they’re year-round infrastructure, wired to future-proof fan engagement and stadium operations. (More)

eSPORTS

Esports Locks in a Generation

Esports isn’t just surviving — it’s hardening into habit for younger fans. Interest among 18–29-year-olds climbed from 27% in Q1 2021 to 33% in Q1 2024, holding at 31% in the latest quarter. The rest of the population? Flatlined at 16–19%. That 14-point generational gap says it all: this isn’t a passing phase — it’s a preference. And while teams and leagues may be in flux, viewer engagement (10–12%) remains sticky among Gen Z. In a fragmented attention economy, that kind of loyalty is rare — and valuable. (More)

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