Joey Brander

The acquisition of the Long Island Ducks by a Texas Rangers–linked ownership group says a lot about where smart sports capital is moving next. Independent baseball isn’t about chasing broadcast deals or national scale. It’s about control, consistency, and community economics. Teams like the Ducks sit in dense markets, own their local audience, and operate without the constraints that come with affiliated systems. That flexibility matters. Independent clubs can experiment with pricing, fan experience, technology, data, and alternative revenue models in ways that MLB-affiliated teams simply can’t. For MLB-adjacent owners, these teams become operational laboratories and durable entertainment businesses at the same time. From an investment lens, this is also part of a broader trend. Lower-tier US sports assets are becoming more institutional, not less. Well-run clubs with stable venues, predictable attendance, and strong local sponsorship bases offer downside protection with real optionality. Affiliation changes, media partnerships, real estate leverage, and technology adoption all sit on the table. As MLB continues to tighten and rationalize its minor league structure, independent baseball increasingly fills the gap. It’s not a replacement system. It’s a parallel layer with different economics, different incentives, and growing strategic value. This deal isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about owning resilient sports businesses that still compound quietly at the local level. #SportsBusiness #IndependentBaseball #SportsInvesting #MinorLeagueSports #CommunitySports #SportsOwnership #USSports

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This is massive, massive growth in such a short period of time - NWSL clubs are now worth an average of $184M, an increase of 77% in just 18 months. They're on track to DOUBLE in value in ~2 years. And the women's game in the U.S. ain't slowing down anytime soon. Check back on these valuations after the '27 Women's World Cup in Brazil and the '28 Olympics in LA - my bet is most NWSL clubs will be north of a $500M valuation.

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Major League Baseball (MLB) announced Monday afternoon that sports books like FanDuel and DraftKings Inc. will cap prop bets on pitch-level markets such as “ball/strike” or “pitch velocity,” at $200 and not allow their inclusion in parlays. MLB’s leverage comes from partnership deals that provides sports books access to official league data and marketing platforms that advance their business. I think we will see pressure building on the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL) and National Hockey League (NHL) to create similar deals. There are probably advanced discussions underway. The NCAA has leverage with Genius Sports to distribute official data for post-season events but the leverage question in college sports remains more complex and diffuse. The Southeastern Conference and Big Ten Conference are likely talking to the sports books as well, but don't have anywhere near the same leverage as the pro leagues. It's time for state regulators to step up...just as they do with broader wagering vulnerabilities. There are greater risks in the college sports environment than in the pros. #sportsbiz #sportsgambling #sportsbetting #collegesports

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Half the market is still on the sidelines… family offices and sports investing in 2025: If you think every major family office already owns a stake in a team, venue, or sports tech startup… think again. According to Goldman Sachs’ 2025 Family Office Investment Insights, only 25% of family offices have already invested in the sports ecosystem, and another 25% say they’re interested but not yet active. That leaves roughly half of global family offices still on the sidelines, that’s a massive pool of capital not yet deployed into one of the fastest growing corners of alternative assets. (Source: Goldman Sachs, 2025) U.S: The U.S. remains the heavyweight. Over half (≈53%) of global family office assets are deployed in North America and the region leads sports ownership by deal volume. From MLS and MLB stakes to emerging pickleball and media rights platforms, the American family office is already active and comfortable treating sports as an institutional grade asset. But with saturation comes competition and many newer family offices are looking abroad for creative, impact oriented sports investments. UK: The UK market has seen a surge of family offices acquiring or partnering with clubs, venues, and mixed use developments around sport. There’s been a clear rise in ultra wealthy and family office purchases of sporting and leisure assets over the past two years, from lower league football teams to Formula E franchises and sports hospitality portfolios. This is less about financial engineering and more about heritage, influence, and diversification. Owning a piece of British sporting culture that can appreciate in both asset value and emotional equity. Europe: Europe’s share of global sports deal flow reached ~24% of all sports transactions in 2024, up from ~20% the previous year. That growth shows continental family offices are moving from passive spectators to active players, particularly in media rights, event infrastructure, and real estate linked to sport. Spain: Spain’s family office landscape is younger, more discreet, and still consolidating. Many Spanish family offices were founded in the past decade, and their focus is still on succession, diversification, and governance. That means the large scale sports ownership we see in the UK or US hasn’t fully emerged yet, but Spain is rich in creative, community based opportunities: regional clubs, experiential formats, youth academies, and new participation models like padel As Spanish family offices professionalise, sport will likely become a natural next step in their investment evolution. Sports investing is no longer niche, but it’s nowhere near saturated. The next wave of family office participation will come from those 50% yet to enter, and they’ll be looking for projects that combine creativity, purpose, and commercial sense. For investors and founders alike, the pitch is evolving from “own a team” to “shape the future of how people play, move, and connect.” #FamilyOffices

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Momentous Sports's Marley Hughes latest newsletter examines the behavioral economic impact of cashless transactions at sports venues using AMB Sports and Entertainment as a case study. His primary insight is that fans "spent significantly more while reporting higher satisfaction levels" is particularly compelling for #sportsbiz leaders given there is usually an inverse correlation between increases in price and fan satisfaction. I highlighted a similar dynamic when examining the increase in Major League Baseball (MLB) attendance during the 2023 season by spotlighting cashless transactions as catalyst for league attendance growth in a JohnWallStreet column. https://lnkd.in/gVCP9akk

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Who's on first? MLB. Always. First league to partner with DraftKings in 2015. First of the Big Four to officially partner with a prediction market today — naming Polymarket its exclusive exchange. This is legitimately great for the industry. League partnerships bring credibility and distribution that prediction markets need right now. But let's not confuse a deal with conviction. Today's deal includes a clause voiding the partnership if courts rule prediction markets violate state law. MLB is smartly playing both sides. #cftc #polymarket #kalshi #mlb

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Sports tech M&A saw some decent uptick this past year. In sports performance especially. And the pace of consolidation is picking up fast. But the risks most people miss are not in the term sheet. So I hope this is useful & timely for those who are in the middle of an exciting transformational M&A moment.

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Snapback Sports has officially signed with Excel Sports Management. Why Now? We had a grinder (Alex Sheinman) to get us from 0 to 1 and 1 to 2 but we need the big agency to push us to 10. Why Excel? Ryan Orozco - He's Excel's Head of Digital Media Talent. His experience with Deestroying and Good Good Golf mattered to us. We are not an influencer or a creator. We are a new media company. Understanding how to sell and scale that type of business was important. What is Excel Actually Going to Do? #1: Drive Revenue #2: Open Doors This all came from my weekly newsletter if you want an even deeper dive, read here: https://lnkd.in/e3X8A4Uy A Reality Check for Creators 1. It doesn't happen overnight. We haven't done a deal with Excel yet. Sales cycles are longer than the month and a half we've been working together. At Radio Row, where we had 50-something guests, I think Excel brought two or three. That's not a knock on Excel. That's the reality of agencies. 2. They are not the ultimate unlock. As I mentioned above, all my thoughts are inside the newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/e3X8A4Uy #sportsbusiness #sportsmedia

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