JPMorgan's billionaire clients want sports teams over fine art

JPMorgan Chase's super-rich clients are bolstering investments in sports teams as rising values increasingly attract capital from institutional firms and they mature as an asset class.

Some 20% of 111 billionaire families served by the Wall Street giant now own controlling stakes in sports teams, up from 6% three years ago, JPMorgan said in a report Wednesday. About a third of the families surveyed this year — who have a combined net worth of more than $500 billion — invested more broadly in sports teams or stadiums, making it their top specialty asset class ahead of art and cars, the bank said in its 2025 Principal Discussions Report.

Sports have "become more than just a passion investment," Andrew L. Cohen, executive chairman of JPMorgan's global private bank, said in an interview. "It's become a real part of the portfolio."

Some of the world's richest families are joining multibillion-dollar asset managers such as Apollo Global Management and Ares Management in pushing deeper into sports as team values boom, partly due to robust television ratings producing attractive revenue streams.

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Owners of National Basketball Association and National Football League teams have also opened up more to private equity firms in recent years, helping to drive up valuations.

Last month, NBA owners signed off on Mark Walter's $10 billion purchase of the Los Angeles Lakers, crushing the $6.1 billion benchmark for a professional basketball team set just this March by the Boston Celtics. The NFL's New York Giants sold a 10% stake in October to Julia Koch and the Koch family at a valuation of $10.3 billion, setting a new high water mark in sports team values.

"The U.S. is obviously the dominant market for sports investments," said Cohen, who also leads JPMorgan's 23 Wall team, which caters to the ultrawealthy and authored the report. But "the ubiquity of opportunities is growing."

Wealthy individuals buying sports teams outside the U.S. include ammunition tycoon Michal Strnad, who acquired a majority stake in Czech football club FC Viktoria Plzen for an undisclosed amount this year. U.K. industrialist Jim Ratcliffe took control of Manchester United Plc's football operations last year after spending about $1.5 billion to buy roughly a third of the storied team, adding to a sports empire that already included French and Swiss soccer clubs.

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The pair have a combined net worth of almost $30 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The heads of billionaire families are also boosting their private markets activity as companies avoid going public for longer amid investors grappling with pinched liquidity and higher borrowing costs.

Nearly 70% of principals that JPMorgan questioned in hour-long conversations said they now prefer active roles in private investments, such as taking board seats, rising from 43% three years ago. Most are still operating their original family business.

"They are doubling down" on private investments, Cohen said. "They are not dialing back."