The New Jersey Devils celebrate after Simon Nemec #17 scored the winning goal in double overtime in Game 3 of the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Carolina Hurricanes at the Prudential Center on April 25, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey.
Andrew Maclean | National Hockey League | Getty Images
A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide for wealthy investors and consumers. Register to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
For the ultra-rich, sports teams have gone from status symbols to traditional investment assets, according to a new survey from JP Morgan Private Bank.
The bank’s 23 Wall division, which caters to the 0.01%, surveyed 111 billionaire executives of private family investment firms, representing more than $500 billion in combined wealth, between March and August. Twenty percent of family office executives reported holding majority stakes in sports teams, up from 6% in 2022.
Sports assets have also outpaced traditional trophy assets, such as art and automobiles, with 34% of investors investing in teams and arenas, compared to 23% for art and 10% for automobiles, the bank said.
Andrew Cohen, executive chairman of JP Morgan’s global private banking business, told Inside Wealth that he expects this trajectory to continue. Sports team valuations continue to rise, supported by media rights and sponsorship deals, providing strong returns, he said. The bank values U.S. and European franchises at around $400 billion combined, estimating that the total value of sports mergers, acquisitions and investments has increased eightfold over the past five years.
Cohen added that owning sports teams scratches the entrepreneurial itch in a way that other hobbies can’t. Many executives serve on the board of directors or are active in franchise operations, he said.
“Unlike art or automobiles, sports ownership provides executives with a platform for active participation,” he said. “This hands-on approach aligns with the broader trend of families seeking to be “active architects” rather than passive investors.
As the sports industry’s growth has attracted investors beyond passionate fans, Cohen said many executives have reported motivations beyond financial returns. He cited the desire to reunite a family as a key factor for sports team owners. Women team owners were also likely to say they supported women’s sports to “help level the playing field,” the report found.
As valuations continue to soar, even wealthy individuals are being excluded from bidding wars for control of stakes, he said. However, according to Cohen, there are ways for investors to get a piece of the action at lower prices, such as joining an ownership group or syndicate to acquire minority stakes, investing in arenas and making “sports adjacent” investments in data analytics or merchandising.
Heavyweight family offices often take multiple approaches when investing in sports. For example, Blackstone’s David Blitzer, who is the first person to own equity in all five major U.S. men’s sports leagues, has backed at least six sports companies this year, including a chain of padel clubs and a betting app, through his Bolt Ventures family office.