Family offices invest in sports from pickleball to smart soccer balls
Ben Johns comes to the right side to take a hard shot against Anna Bright and Hayden Patriquine during the 2026 PPA Carvana Mesa Cup final match of the Pro Mixed Doubles Division at the Arizona Athletic Grounds on February 22, 2026 in Mesa, Arizona.
Bruce Yeung | Getty Images
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Last month, investment firms of the ultra-rich went all-in on sports and played on multiple fronts.
At the beginning of May, billionaire Tom Dundon’s namesake family office partnered with Apollo’s new sports fund to invest $225 million in Pickleball Inc., the parent company of Major League Pickleball and the PPA Tour. Dundon currently owns the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA and the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes.
As for the big leagues, Silver Lake’s Michael Dell, part of an investor group led by Egon Durban, purchased a 25% stake in the Las Vegas Raiders football team. Dell is also a minority investor in the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs and the professional bull riding team Austin Gamblers.
According to data provided exclusively to CNBC by Fintrx, a private wealth intelligence platform, family offices made 51 direct investments in companies in May; This figure remained stable compared to the agreement figures in April.
A Goldman Sachs study published last fall found that 25% of family offices are invested in sports or related assets such as ticketing or arenas, with another quarter interested in the same. Apart from the love of gaming, many investors are drawn to the sector as a means of hedging against inflation.
Student housing mogul David Adelman used his family office to expand his reach into the sports economy. Adelman is a partial owner of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, English Premier League club Crystal Palace and the New Jersey Devils ice hockey team, and an investor in sports goods giant Fanatics.
In May, investment firm Darco Capital led a $12 million Series A round for PlayerData along with David Blitzer’s family office Bolt Ventures and venture capital firm Pentland Ventures. The UK startup produces GPS-enabled vests and footballs that help athletes track their performance.
Adelman told CNBC that some teams in his portfolio use PlayerData products. Crystal Palace, for example, uses vests and smart footballs in training its academy players. Applying the technology to athletes at all levels, including youth sports, was part of the appeal of the initiative, according to Adelman.
“What stood out to me was his ability to take something complex and make it simple, practical and accessible,” Adelman said.
