What sports franchises have returned, where the return comes from, how correlated sport is with other assets, the risks of illiquidity and media rights, and the five routes an investor can use to get exposure.
Startup · Topic
Sports Economy
Sport read as an economy: market size, athlete-founders, what sport does inside companies, country playbooks, and the businesses of football, stadiums, media rights, sponsorship and sports finance.
- 50 guides
- 10 subtopics
- Updated Oct 31, 2026
Sports Economy by the Numbers 5
Sports Industry Tools & Comparisons 5
Sports Finance & Investment 5
Sponsorship, Betting & Fan Monetisation 5
Media Rights, Broadcasting & Streaming 5
Stadiums, Mega-Events & Tourism 5
Football & League Economics 5
Country Playbooks 5
Sports & Human Resources 5
Sports & Entrepreneurship 5
Latest in Sports Economy
Athlete Income and Wealth Management: From Contract to Portfolio
Where athlete income comes from, how contracts and deferrals work, what tax takes, why so many players run out of money and how the best-advised athletes turn a short career into a lifetime portfolio.
Club Debt: Bonds, Stadium Loans and Who Lends to Sport
How clubs and franchises borrow for stadiums and squads, who lends (banks, bond investors, municipalities, leagues and private credit), what the NFL and UEFA allow, and what happened at Inter, Barcelona and Manchester United.
Why Sports Franchise Valuations Keep Rising
Why sports franchise valuations keep rising: Forbes, Sportico and CNBC 2026 figures, the revenue multiples buyers pay, media rights and expansion fees, the North America–Europe gap and what could stop the escalator.
Private Equity in Sport: The Funds, the Deals and the Rules
Who the sports private equity funds are, what they have bought from the Yankees to Atlético Madrid, the ownership caps each league imposes, and the deals in Germany and at 777 Partners that went wrong.
From Club Patrons to Private Equity: How Sport Learned to Raise Capital
A history with numbers of who has paid for sport: patrons and members, listed clubs, billionaires and states, then private-equity funds admitted by every US league. The 2025–2026 deals, the rules and the next stage.
All guides
Athlete-Led Brands: From Air Jordan to Serena Ventures
Seven case studies in athlete-led brands, from Jordan Brand’s roughly $7bn a year to Serena Ventures’ $111m fund, Beckham’s DRJB, Federer’s On stake, SpringHill, 35V and BodyArmor, and the pattern behind the ones that last.
SportsTech Start-ups: Funding, Categories and Exits
Drake Star counts $14.3bn of sportstech private placements and $156bn of M&A in 2025. This guide maps the six categories, the DAZN, Polymarket, Kalshi and Oura rounds, the consolidators that buy start-ups and the risks.
What Founders Can Learn from Athletes and Coaches
Sport-to-business lessons with the evidence attached: EY and Cornell data on athletes as leaders, the $5.34bn coaching industry, periodisation, feedback loops, marginal gains, and the sporting ideas founders should not copy.
The Athlete as Entrepreneur: How Players Became Founders
From Jordan’s royalty line to Serena Ventures’ $111m fund, the athlete-entrepreneur model converts a short window of attention into equity. The 2025–2026 numbers, the billionaire scorecard and the failure modes.
Domestic vs International Rights: How Leagues Sell the World
The Premier League earns more from international rights than domestic ones; the NFL earns almost nothing abroad. How leagues package and sell overseas rights, who buys them, and why most leagues struggle to export.
What Does Piracy Cost Sport?
Live sports piracy costs rights holders an estimated $28.3 billion a year. How pirate IPTV and streaming sites work, what Streameast’s shutdown and DAZN’s Ligue 1 exit reveal, and what enforcement works.