Investing in sport: key trends to watch

Sport is still, for the most part, an alternative investment. As our CIO team has emphasised¹, private equity remains the predominant route to investing in sports teams, with a range of risks that need to be taken into account.

But technological innovation and fan-centric experiences are opening up entirely new investment opportunities, and overall revenues in the sector are projected to nearly double by 2033 to over 800 billion US dollars².  

At the inaugural Deutsche Bank Sports Investment Conference, a number of trends were discussed repeatedly that our expert speakers and audience believed would shape sports investing over the coming years – in terms of opportunities, risks and limiting factors that would need to be overcome before growth could be achieved in particular sports and audience segments.

Why sports investing requires “patient capital”

In one of our panels, named “The Long Game: Institutional Capital”, Deutsche Bank’s Head of Private Bank for the UK and Nordics, James Whittaker, got the chance to explore why institutional investors are showing a growing in interest in sport, and the characteristics of sports investments that they find particularly interesting.

Speaker Jack Cleverley, Global Head of Business Development for Apollo Sports Capital, argued the sector is entering a new phase in which leagues and teams increasingly seek more varied and strategic forms of capital to support expansion. And another panellist suggested that sports assets are increasingly being viewed as a way to diversify institutional portfolios.

What are the structural dynamics behind investable growth in sports?

When assessing potential growth opportunities in sport, structural factors may be central in shaping the outlook for any team or asset. In a panel debate involving family office representatives, governance emerged as a critical factor for long-term stability – starting with league regulation and extending to clear dispute resolution processes for shareholders. 

Beyond that session, many speakers pointed to the advantages of North America’s closed leagues with no relegation when asked about the best opportunities in sports investments over the next decade. Combined with long-term media contracts, central revenue sharing and league-wide cost controls, these models could reduce the importance of short-term sporting performance to franchise economics.

Closed leagues may also help investors maintain scarcity value, noted one institutional panel member. “Running a global sports finance business demands deep geographic and league-specific expertise and disciplined structuring that separates investment returns from sporting risk”, said Cleverley. 

Sports media rights remain key amid potential moderation

The central role of media rights in the growth of the sports ecosystem was a recurring theme across multiple sessions. One family office representative suggested that top-tier assets are likely to “disproportionately appreciate” due to the upside embedded in media-rights renewals. For family offices, he added, a key advantage lies in the ability to hold assets across multiple rights cycles. At the same time, our Chief Investment Officer Christian Nolting warned the audience, the usual rules of due diligence apply and one should not rely on past performance as an indication of what might happen in the future.

In the US, the “Big Four” major leagues have all benefited from media revenues rising substantially faster than inflation across successive cycles. However, media rights growth is expected to moderate over the next three to five years, according to a survey of more than 500 sports executives worldwide³, as many domestic broadcast markets approach maturity and streaming platforms become more disciplined buyers.

The potential for sports to avoid disruption by AI was another significant theme, with speakers arguing that no other form of entertainment offers such a strong combination of live action, human drama and passionate fans. As Arjun Nagarkatti, Head of Private Bank – US & Europe International at Deutsche Bank Private Bank, argued: “You still need people to get onto a field and play a game at a particular time.” 

Why women’s sport could be a key growth engine for the sector

Women’s sport emerged as one of the clearest differentiated growth areas discussed throughout the conference, with multiple sessions highlighting potential opportunities to expand fan engagement and commercial revenues. One panel moderated by Gabby Logan, and involving leading executives from cricket, football and rugby, examined the cultural shift towards greater interest in women’s sport and why this momentum is not yet fully reflected in broadcast rights and sponsorship deals. 

The Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2025 generated 5.2 billion video views and 279 million social media interactions, according to the International Cricket Council⁴. Panellists noted that such engagement has made women’s cricket the key growth engine for the sport as a whole.

Speakers called for more women’s sports teams to be treated as independent products with their own brand identities – as is typically the case in US women’s football – rather than extensions of men’s clubs. Evidence from rugby suggests millions of fans follow only the women’s game, argued one speaker, creating significant sponsorship opportunities.

Emerging sports: potential opportunities across the ecosystem

Emerging sports were also discussed that could offer differentiated opportunities for investors willing to take on higher risk. A well-resourced and patient investor could, for example, make “ecosystem plays” in rapidly growing niche sports by investing across the value chain, suggested one speaker.

By owning related e-commerce assets, facilities and software, the ideas of such an investment would be to develop a self-sustaining commercial model even without media rights income. As discussions throughout the day demonstrated, the deepening complexity of global sport supports a broad array of investment approaches.