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.
Startup · Topic
Sports & Entrepreneurship
Athlete-founders, sportstech start-ups, athlete-led brands and how sport learned to raise capital.
- 5 guides
- Updated Oct 31, 2026
Latest in Sports & Entrepreneurship
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.
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