Beyond the Game: How South Florida Is Becoming the Capital of Sports Investment
Professional sports has always been about competition. Today, however, the biggest competition isn't happening on the field, it's happening in boardrooms, family offices, venture capital firms, and investment committees.
That shift was on full display at the Elite Family Office Sports Summit, held June 23–24 in Palm Beach County. Bringing together professional athletes, family offices, sports executives, investors, attorneys, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs, the invitation-only gathering demonstrated that sports is no longer viewed solely as entertainment. It has evolved into one of the world's most compelling alternative asset classes.
Hosted by Athlon Family Office and led by CEO De Anna Guerreiro, the summit was carefully curated to encourage meaningful conversations rather than maximize attendance. Athlon is a private equity family office that invests in professional sports while mentoring professional athletes throughout their careers and beyond. As interest in sports as an institutional asset class has grown, Athlon's extensive family office network has increasingly turned to the firm for guidance on evaluating investment opportunities across professional sports.
Recognizing the need for education in this rapidly evolving sector, Guerreiro launched the Elite Family Office Sports Summit to provide family offices, investors, and industry leaders with a trusted forum to better understand the opportunities, risks, and long-term potential of sports investing. The result was an intimate environment where relationships, strategy, and long-term investment opportunities took center stage.
The educational program featured keynote presentations and discussions led by some of the industry's most respected investors, advisors, and sports executives, including Andrew Checketts of Checketts Sports Group and Cynosure; David Bennett with Cynosure, Chris Kelly of Kelly Ventures and the ownership group of the NBA's Sacramento Kings; Neil Barlow, Eric Schaffer and Vince Ferrito of Clifford Chance, Charles Baker and Ally Levy are with Sidley, and Doug Raetz with Cresset Sports & Entertainment. Their collective expertise spanned franchise ownership, private equity, legal strategy, family office investing, sports technology, and institutional capital, setting the stage for two days of high-level conversations about the future of sports investing.
The result was an intimate environment where relationships, strategy, and long-term investment opportunities took center stage.
Sports Is No Longer Just a Game, It's an Investment Ecosystem
One of the strongest themes throughout the summit was that professional sports organizations have evolved far beyond teams competing on the field. Today, they are diversified businesses that combine franchise ownership, media rights, athlete branding, real estate, technology, and private capital into sophisticated investment platforms.
Steven Young of FC Cincinnati shared how Major League Soccer clubs are increasingly built as global brands, where athletes serve not only as competitors but as ambassadors who deepen fan loyalty, expand commercial partnerships, and create long-term enterprise value.
That evolution extends well beyond the stadium. Marley Hughes of Magnolia Hill Partners explored the growing importance of the OpCo/PropCo model, where investors evaluate not only the franchise itself but also the ownership of stadiums, entertainment districts, mixed-use developments, hospitality, retail, and surrounding real estate. These integrated assets transform sports venues into year-round economic engines capable of generating recurring revenue while strengthening local economies.
Technology is accelerating this transformation even further. Wayne Kimmel, Managing Partner of SeventySix Capital, discussed how venture investors are backing companies focused on athlete performance, artificial intelligence, analytics, sports medicine, venue operations, and fan engagement. Mihir Kumar of Sharp Alpha Advisors expanded on that vision by highlighting investment opportunities across sports betting software, fantasy sports, esports, gaming, social sports venues, and digital fan experiences.
Collectively, these discussions illustrated a fundamental shift in how the industry is viewed. The next generation of sports businesses may not own a team or build a stadium, they may create the software, data platforms, AI tools, and digital infrastructure that power the entire sports ecosystem. Increasingly, investors are recognizing that the greatest opportunities in sports extend well beyond the scoreboard.
That shift is also changing how sophisticated investors think about sports within a broader portfolio. Joe Roos, Chief Investment Officer at Zittman Family Office (ZFO), described sports as an emerging "anti-AI" investment, a scarce asset class whose value is rooted not in software or algorithms, but in limited ownership opportunities, loyal fan bases, media rights, and physical infrastructure. As artificial intelligence lowers barriers to entry across many industries, professional sports franchises remain among the few assets whose supply is permanently constrained.
"My biggest takeaway was the convergence of institutional-quality deal flow and genuine scarcity," Roos said. "Every asset class eventually gets discovered and priced efficiently, but sports teams operate under a fundamentally different set of supply-and-demand laws, helping drive attractive risk-adjusted returns in businesses generating cash flow with significant underlying asset value, particularly for teams that own their stadiums."
From Endorsements to Equity: The Rise of Athlete Capital
One of the most significant shifts highlighted throughout the summit was the changing role of professional athletes within the investment ecosystem. Today's athletes are no longer viewed simply as endorsers or brand ambassadors, they are becoming investors, entrepreneurs, board members, fund partners, and, increasingly, owners.
Former players across multiple sports from soccer, football, basketball, baseball and even golf have joined family offices, venture capital firms, and institutional investors to discuss ownership opportunities, venture investing, and long-term wealth creation beyond their playing careers. Two primary examples right here in South Florida are David Beckham's involvement in the InterMiami FC and Tiger Woods with TGL. With Florida being home to many professional teams and offering outdoor sports year round due to our weather, the influx of wealthy individuals, investors, and athletes moving to the state, these examples are becoming more and more abundant.
More importantly, these conversations demonstrated that athletes bring far more than capital to the table. Their industry relationships, global brands, credibility, and firsthand understanding of the sports business make them valuable strategic partners for investors seeking opportunities across technology, media, real estate, and professional sports.
This evolution reflects a broader shift away from traditional endorsement deals toward equity ownership and long-term value creation. Whether investing in emerging sports technology, participating in private equity transactions, or pursuing ownership stakes in professional franchises, athletes are increasingly building diversified portfolios designed to generate wealth long after their careers on the field have ended.
For family offices and institutional investors, this represents a new model of partnership, one where athletes are not simply promoting companies but helping identify opportunities, create value, and shape the future of the sports industry itself.
South Florida Is Becoming a Home for Sports Capital
Perhaps the most significant takeaway from the Athlon Family Office Elite Family Office Sports Summit wasn't any single panel or keynote, it was where these conversations took place.
Just a few years ago, discussions around sports ownership, family office investing, venture capital, and institutional finance would have been expected in New York, Los Angeles, or Dallas. Today, they are happening in Boca Raton, a reflection of South Florida's growing influence as a destination for capital, innovation, and executive leadership.
Hosted at the Boca Raton Innovation Campus (BRIC), the summit explored an industry undergoing rapid transformation. The message was consistent throughout the two-day event: professional sports is no longer viewed simply as entertainment, it has become a sophisticated investment ecosystem where franchise ownership, real estate, technology, media, data, and private capital increasingly intersect.
Teams are becoming platforms. Stadiums are evolving into mixed-use business districts. Athletes are becoming strategic investors and business partners. Technology companies are powering the next generation of fan engagement, analytics, and performance. Family offices and institutional investors are expanding their portfolios to include sports as a long-term alternative asset class.
As South Florida continues to attract family offices, private equity firms, venture capital, founders, and world-class executives, events like the Elite Family Office Sports Summit demonstrate that the region is no longer simply participating in the future of sports investment, it is helping define it. For Palm Beach County and the broader South Florida ecosystem, that may be the summit's most enduring legacy.
