Kimmel and Stender named "Power Players" by the Sports Business Journal
Power Players: SeventySix Capital
Chad Stender
Managing Partner
Wayne Kimmel
Managing Partner
Wayne Kimmel was one of the first investors to formalize a strategy specifically around sports when he launched SeventySix in 1999. He and Chad Stender, who was promoted to managing partner in February, focus largely on early-stage sports tech and gaming startups, with a portfolio that includes swing tracking firm Diamond Kinetics, stadium lost-and-found operator Boomerang, and analytics platforms ShotTracker and Swish Analytics. The Philadelphia-based investor also operates an advisory arm that’s worked with the Edmonton Oilers, eMLS and Playfly Sports, among others.
When San Francisco-based investment firm Sixth Street last year committed $125 million, including a $53 million expansion fee, to launch NWSL franchise Bay FC, it was heralded as a landmark victory for the rapidly growing women’s soccer league. But the transaction also marked a less-publicized, if no less critical, juncture for the sports industry at large: Sixth Street had become the first institutional investor with controlling ownership of a team from a major U.S. league.
Institutional capital is no stranger to the broader sports ecosystem. In fact, some of the firms highlighted in the following pages have been investing in sports and sports-adjacent businesses for more than a decade. But the advent of institutional team ownership, the once-unthinkable practice that’s increasingly commonplace thanks to easing league bylaws, has accelerated the recognition of sports as a stand-alone asset class — and, more specifically, one offering investors tremendous opportunity thanks to its separation from public markets and resilience in the face of economic challenges.
It’s thus a perfect time to pull the curtain back on who, exactly, is behind one of the biggest trends in sports business. In the following pages, we highlight 52 executives from 27 investment firms, ranging from sovereign wealth funds with hundreds of billions of dollars in assets to early-stage venture capital investors cutting checks of less than $1 million. Together, the firms control more than $3 trillion in assets. They play a critical role in addressing the sports industry’s demand for liquidity and promise to be key players for years to come.
LARGE-SCALE PRIVATE EQUITY
Ares Management
Carlyle
Clearlake Capital Group
CVC Capital Partners
Providence Equity Partners
Silver Lake
Sixth Street
MID-SIZE and GROWTH EQUITY
Shamrock Capital
The Raine Group
The Chernin Group
Arctos Partners
Avenue Capital Group
Bruin Capital
Dyal HomeCourt Partners
MSP Sports Capital
Verance Capital
Otro Capital
RedBird Capital Partners
EARLY-STAGE AND VENTURE CAPITAL
Causeway
Courtside Ventures
Elysian Park Ventures
Sapphire Sport
SeventySix Capital
Monarch Collective
SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUNDS
CPP Investments
Public Investment Fund
Qatar Investment Authority