Athlete economy
The new athlete paradigm: entrepreneurs building brands, investors backing ventures, and community leaders driving change—plus the sports organizations, partnerships, and monetization strategies shaping the sporting goods industry.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
The athlete economy is rewriting the brand playbook
Athletes now own equity stakes, media companies and venture portfolios. For sporting goods brands, the implications go well beyond sponsorship.
From extreme athlete to platform: Jonas Deichmann’s business model
How Jonas Deichmann turns adventures into a business model and translates reach into partnerships – an analysis.
Social: female athletes’ biggest asset – and liability
Women’s sports revenue is growing faster than men’s. Female athletes generate more social engagement. But visibility carries a cost brands rarely pay for.
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LVMH-backed Champ fund backs Rhoback in $50m debut deal
The new athlete-equity fund backed by LVMH deploys nearly $50m into US activewear brand Rhoback: its first investment.
TIME100 Sports marks shift to an influence economy
Athletes, owners and podcasters share equal billing in the magazine’s first ranking of who actually runs global sport.
Agassi’s venture signs Jannik Sinner’s coach
The coach of Agassi, Sinner and Halep will support Agassi Intelligence, the AI coaching platform ASE is developing with IBM.
Rafael Nadal, post-retirement: a business portrait
Academies, padel circuits, Armani residences and Argentine hotels – the architecture of a sports-to-real-estate enterprise.
England defender Maguire co-founds AI coaching app Feedz
Feedz uses AI to convert spoken audio into structured player feedback in under a minute, targeting grassroots and academy coaches.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s targets online sports streaming
A stake in LiveModeTV extends Ronaldo’s media holdings to a live sport streaming play built on free YouTube distribution.
Vuori expands its golf range with Tom Holland
A second, more sport-specific golf range shows how the California challenger is building technical credibility beyond lifestyle wear.
Kylian Mbappé: footballer, investor
From a French health insurtech to a sailing team and a Ligue 2 club, the Real Madrid forward is operating as a full-fledged investor.
Gamma Waves – Agnelli returns to sport, but to football?
Ex-Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli and captain Giorgio Chiellini launch a €100m sports IP and tech fund — with football pointedly absent.
CHAMP: athlete co-investment from L Catterton
Over 250 elite athletes, including NBA star Kevin Durant, take co-ownership stakes in consumer brands under a new L Catterton–Patricof vehicle.
Messi buys Spanish fifth-tier club UE Cornellà
The world’s most decorated footballer has taken ownership of a Catalan fifth-tier club with a history of producing top-tier talent.
From extreme athlete to platform: Jonas Deichmann’s business model
How Jonas Deichmann turns adventures into a business model and translates reach into partnerships – an analysis.
Curry’s free-agency sneakers hit the auction block
Over 70 pairs worn during Curry’s brand-free NBA season go under the hammer, with all proceeds supporting the Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation.
NFL champion, NWSL star back cleat startup Caddix
The Baltimore startup targeting ACL and lower-body injury reduction secures backing from a Super Bowl quarterback and an NWSL defender.
Football star Haaland invests in new chess world tour
Norwegian footballer co-founds Chess Mates to become stakeholder in Norway Chess, owner of a new FIDE-approved global championship circuit
Australian tennis player Kyrgios joins The Picklr
The tennis star is betting on pickleball’s boom with a new investment and ambassador role.
Federer: from champion to billionaire investor
The Swiss tennis legend’s On stake and Uniqlo deal drive a $1.1bn fortune, placing him among a handful of athletes on Forbes’ 2026 billionaires list.
Women’s sports brand TOGETHXR invests in Sportsish
Athlete-founded US media brand TOGETHXR acquires a stake in Sportsish, a social-first creator platform reaching 331,000 followers.
Rafa Nadal Academy takes padel tour to US
Four events in Miami, Austin and New York City mark the circuit’s first transatlantic expansion, backed by court-booking platform Playtomic.
Ex-NFL players launch $150m sports fund
Terrence Murphy and Reggie Bush are betting on women’s sports and next-generation formats as the next frontier for institutional capital.
Stria Sport brings aboard NBA’s Andre Drummond
76ers center Drummond takes an ownership position at Stria Sport, a Chicago indie basketball brand, also joining as Creative Director.
Cristiano Ronaldo, conglomerate
The footballer expands his business empire with a strategic acquisition through his newly formed CR7 Sports Investments.
Social: female athletes’ biggest asset – and liability
Women’s sports revenue is growing faster than men’s. Female athletes generate more social engagement. But visibility carries a cost brands rarely pay for.
Agassi sports company plans World Series of Pickleball
The tennis legend’s racquet sports company teams up with UEFA Champions League architects TEAM Marketing to build a global pickleball championship.
LA Lakers star launches direct-to-fan platform
Luka Dončić has launched 77X, an athlete-owned platform that controls IP and fan relationships—bypassing traditional brand partnerships through vertical integration.
Ramos-led consortium bidding for Sevilla FC
The Real Madrid legend’s consortium submits a €400 million letter of intent to buy into his first club
What will the Chef’s next choice be?
Stephen Curry is speed-dating the footwear industry as he searches for Under Armour’s successor. His latest warm-up choice: On running shoes.
WHITESPACE partners with eVent for PFAS-free pants
This choice reinforces the brand’s commitment to sustainable technical materials in premium snowboarding apparel.
Soccer star Morgan backs women’s golf league
Former US women’s soccer star’s venture firm joins all-female investment collective for WTGL, set to debut in winter 2026–27.
Osaka rejoins IMG after Evolve departure
Four-time Grand Slam champion rejoins agency giant IMG Tennis after brief stint with Evolve, the boutique agency she co-founded in 2022.
FIFA WORLD CUP 2026: THE BUSINESS OF THE BEAUTIFUL GAME
The challenger brand that dressed the World Cup’s best story
Behind Bosnia and Herzegovina’s blue shirt is a brand most of the world cannot name. It is also the fourth-biggest kit supplier at this World Cup: meet Kelme.
World Cup kit in 20 minutes: Sports Direct partners with Zapp
Zapp says 78% of football orders arrive within 90 minutes of kick-off, outside store hours. Sports Direct wants that demand.
A World Cup boost? German retailers expect little
Germany’s retail federation polled 400 companies: only sports and food retail expect a real impulse from the overseas event
The bonfire we’re no longer watching together
The 2026 World Cup reaches six billion people, but fragmented across time zones, devices and platforms. That’s the challenge for every sponsor.
adidas launches Climacool System for World Cup 2026
adidas is the first major kit supplier to deploy a systematic thermal management offer across a full tournament squad.
Nike, adidas, PUMA: the World Cup brand battle decoded
One brand built a system. One owns the tournament. One is playing the long game in Africa. Reading (and watching) the 2026 World Cup brand battle.
SPORTS ECONOMY
Monitoring leagues and clubs as business actors—M&A, investor activity, ownership structures, commercial partnerships and deals shaping opportunities for sporting goods brands.
After LIV Golf: what Saudi’s retreat means for sport
A decade of billion-dollar bets on sport is being unwound, and the industry that relied on them is only starting to notice.
Alibaba named UEFA AI and e-commerce partner
Exclusive AI, cloud and e-commerce rights span Euro 2028 and six seasons of UEFA men’s club competitions.
LIV Golf funding crisis: season at risk
Saudi PIF confirmed it will end LIV funding after 2026. Now sources say payments may stop before the season does.
Jens Aage Skare Nielsen confirmed as Rugby Europe CEO
Eight months in, the interim CEO gets the permanent job
World Cup 2026: big event, small economic impact?
A new Goldman Sachs research note challenges FIFA’s $17 billion GDP forecast for the 2026 World Cup.
Fan price-squeeze index
The NFL earns $433 million per franchise in national revenue while fans pay up to $1,500 for access, and 87% report frustration.
World Cup 2026: The business of the beautiful game
Three brands outfit 77 percent of teams. Sponsorship is at record levels. And yet FIFA’s own pricing strategy may be the industry’s biggest risk.
A sport rights family business goes global
Matchroom Holdings, the UK sports rights giant behind boxing, snooker and darts, has sold a minority stake to US investment firm Bruin Capital.
Enhanced Group – Sport as proof of concept
Behind the Enhanced Games’ NYSE debut: athletic bloodwork as raw material for consumer drug protocols sold via telehealth.
The training ground is the new sponsorship frontier
Social content has made training wear a 365-day asset. For sporting goods brands, the exposure logic no longer needs explaining.
ISO 25808: Establishing global standards for the padel industry
The padel industry is building its first global technical standard. Here’s what ISO 25808 means for investors, operators and court builders.
LaLiga signs with Polymarket
LaLiga has become the first European football league to sign a deal with a prediction market – in this case Polymarket, the world’s largest.
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