Private equity has dominated the sports investment landscape for years, but a new wave of high-net-worth individuals and family offices is reshaping the market. At the end of April, Andrea Agnelli, former chairman of Juventus, launched Gamma Waves Partners, a sport-focused investment platform targeting opportunities in innovative sports competitions, teams, and athletes. Co-founded with former Juventus captain Giorgio Chiellini and entrepreneur Rocco Benetton, the platform operates as a permanent capital vehicle with no fixed term, focusing on the intersection of sports intellectual property and sports technology.
The Rise of Alternative Sports Investors
On the IP side, Gamma Waves will take minority stakes in competitions, clubs, teams, athletes, and emerging formats across basketball, hockey, cricket, tennis, baseball, and rugby. On the technology side, it will invest in growth-stage sports-tech companies. This dual approach reflects a broader trend: private capital is being deployed across an increasingly diverse pool of sports assets.
J.P. Morgan valued US and European sports franchises at around $400 billion in 2025, with valuations expected to continue rising through media rights deals and sponsorships. Pitchbook reported in September 2025 that private equity investments in global sport had exceeded $12 billion across 95 deals so far that year. However, the market is no longer solely the domain of private equity firms.
The Barbell Effect in Sports Investment
Deloitte’s 2025 Sports Investment Outlook describes a “barbell effect” in the market, with capital flowing towards both premium, established sports assets and high-growth, emerging sports. This is partly driven by the rapid rise in technology, including greater game data, analytics, and technology-enhanced stadia. It can also be explained by the climbing valuations of elite franchises, resulting in fewer individual investors being able to afford them. This has led to a rise in investor consortiums, minority stake acquisitions, and capital flowing towards innovative and emerging sporting formats.
Recent deals include major investments in The Hundred, football clubs, women’s sport, and an increasing number of investments in emergent sports data and sports tech businesses. The sector is benefiting from new investor entrants, particularly family offices.
Family Offices Enter the Game
A J.P. Morgan Private Bank survey of 111 billionaire principals of family offices, representing more than $500 billion in combined wealth, found that 20% now hold controlling stakes in sports teams, up from just 6% in 2022. Sports investments provide family offices with opportunities for active involvement, and the growth of family offices has been one of the most significant structural developments in private wealth management.
Goldman Sachs’ 2025 Family Office Investment Insights report found that 25% of family offices are already invested in sports or related assets, with a further 25% interested in pursuing sports investment. Family offices’ patient capital structures, long-term planning, and tolerance for illiquidity align naturally with sports assets, which benefit from steady returns but cannot be easily divested. In today’s unpredictable economic climate, alternative sports assets can be a tool to hedge against inflation, with multiple revenue sources including streaming rights and ticketing.
Gamma Waves at the Confluence
Gamma Waves sits at the confluence of these powerful trends. With due diligence already underway on a first, unnamed asset, it appears poised to invest in a market that shows no sign of slowing. As private equity faces increasing competition from high-net-worth individuals and family offices, the sports investment landscape is becoming more diverse and dynamic than ever before.
