Sports Investing: The $600 Billion Playground – Why Pickleball is the New LIV Golf, and Family Offices Can’t Look Away

Due to popular demand recently, this venerable newsletter in finance appears to have become a sports publication! We do study the economic impacts offered by sports and in this detailed article we will analyse in greater depths the drivers of success in this new asset class.

In the gilded game of modern investing, where AI unicorns chase quantum yields and ESG mandates chase headlines, a quiet revolution is dinking its way onto balance sheets: sports. Not the blue-chip behemoths like the NFL or Premier League, but the scrappy disruptors – the asset class that’s ballooned to a projected $600 billion global market by 2027, per PwC’s 2025 Sports Industry Outlook. Family offices, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), and ultra-high-net-worth tycoons are reallocating – 25% have dipped into sports ecosystems, with another 25% eyeing entry, according to Goldman Sachs’ 2025 Family Office Investment Insights. Why? It’s passion meets portfolio: uncorrelated returns, fan loyalty as moat, and tech-fueled monetization from NFTs to AI-driven fan experiences. Deloitte’s 2025 Sports Investment Outlook flags a “divergence” – capital flooding elite leagues while niche sports like pickleball siphon billions in infrastructure bets. As Houlihan Lokey’s Fall 2025 Sports Market Update notes, AI tools are now “powering performance and commercial strategy,” turning courts into data goldmines.

But pickleball? The paddle-wielding upstart that’s exploded 223% in U.S. participation to 13.6 million players? It’s the poster child – a $1.6 billion market in 2024, eyeing 10.2% CAGR through 2030, per OpenPR’s latest forecast. Akin to LIV Golf’s Saudi-fueled schism against PGA orthodoxy or F1’s $20 billion Liberty Media glow-up, pickleball is disrupting tennis and badminton with viral accessibility and millennial appeal. LIV lured Phil Mickelson with $200 million guarantees; pickleball’s pulling LeBron James and Tom Brady with equity in Major League Pickleball (MLP) teams valued at $1-10 million apiece. F1’s fan tokens and hospitality empires mirror pickleball’s streaming surge – 55,000 Florida fans in one tournament alone, powering $17 million local economies, per Dink’s 2025 report. The draw? Low barrier (a $150 paddle vs. $5,000 clubs), high ROI – franchises like Pickleball Kingdom beckon entrepreneurs with $500K initial outlays yielding 20%+ returns amid 68,000+ U.S. courts clamoring for $855 million in upgrades.

Celebrity Paddle Power: The Billionaire Backswing

Hollywood and the hardwood are all-in, turning courts into cap tables. LeBron James (via SpringHill) and Tom Brady co-own MLP’s LA Mad Drops, betting on the sport’s 47% mortality risk reduction – a Harvard doc’s “unexpected perk” for stress-busting cardio. Drake and Michael B. Jordan joined the Atlanta Bouncers in 2023, eyeing “exhilarating” pro circuits; Kevin Durant, via Rich Kleiman’s Thirty Five Ventures, calls it “the future of accessible sports investing” – a $50 million seed across teams and tech. Heidi Klum, Eva Longoria, and Michael Phelps anchor MLP franchises, drawn to its “social alchemy” – retirees bonding with execs, per a viral X thread from real estate mogul @realEstateTrent, who marveled at pickleball’s community “passion” eclipsing noise complaints. Even Naomi Osaka and Patrick Mahomes are in, with MLP’s 2025 expansion to 24 teams (up from 22) via $16 million Palm Beach buys. The allure? It’s not just fun – it’s a $2 trillion sports adjacency play, blending health (9.7 extra lifespan years, per studies) with endorsements exploding 300% post-celeb sightings.

Tycoons echo the frenzy. Austin billionaire Steve Kuhn, hedge fund vet turned “Pickleball King,” plowed $100 million+ into Dripping Springs complexes, dubbing it “the American Dream on asphalt.” Solomon Grey recently met Kuhn at an Aramco golf Event in Mission Hills, the largest golf course in the world, with 18 x 18 holes courses in one location. Kuhn was not there for the golf but quietly been building out 27 courts in Shenzhen, China. Kuhn believes that each team should be worth $50m+ and that we are only in the first innings as the sport continues to elevate to higher levels. Barry Lau of TGG was also at Mission Hills at the same time as Kuhn. Two former hedge fund managers with current interests in pickleball provides for an interesting coincidence chance meeting in Shenzhen, neither resides there… the logic is sensible to have capital backing the sport with professional clubs and leagues when one compares that to a NBA, NFL team, pickleball club valuation seems “affordable” which is ironic as BNY Mellon’s 2025 survey of the ultra rich tycoons team owners in sports: most family offices allocate 1-5% to sports, with pickleball’s “niche goldmine” leading – $855 million needed for courts alone. “It’s fantasy apps to franchises,” says a Goldman Sachs report, with 12% cash drags pushing UHNW into arenas.

Elon Dinks In: Health Hack or Hype Machine?

Enter Elon Musk, the ultimate accelerant. In a September 2024 Joe Rogan sit-down (echoed in 2025 X buzz), Musk proselytized pickleball’s longevity edge: “The sport you play has a huge connection with how long you live… In first place, the sport that makes you live the longest is a racquet sport like pickleball – 9.7 years longer.” He plays weekly – “agility, reflexes, cardio in one” – and tweeted pickleball would “crush tennis,” fueling a 20% participation spike. By mid-2025, SpaceX’s “Project Echo” rec zone in Texas added employee pickleball courts, Musk’s “work hard, play harder” ethos in action. Hong Kong’s TGG Group embodies the thesis. Managing Director Andre Lajeunesse, is known in the hard nosed world of finance to be a work hard play hard guy. A former competitive polo player having fractured ribs, hips from falling off horses charging at full speed to deliver that winning strike has been a recent permanent fixture at sporting events. Many in the sporting world know Lajeunesse. Many have reported to have spoken with him at the Long Lunch, a customary pre-season luncheon of who’s who in sports in advance of the forthcoming Rugby 7s event at the newly built Kai Tak Stadium. Solomon Grey can report that from various sources we believe there’s a dedicated $300 million sports sleeve under LIT Sports Global, although TGG has declined to comment specifically on this but Lajeunesse reverted instead – “we are patient capital to ignite a spark in youths’ lives for the greatest good.” Starting with pickleball professionalization (signing pros like Ryan Lam - one of the stars in assisting Hong Kong’s 2025 World Cup silver), TGG eyes team ownership across more established sports like football, rugby and beyond. “We grow with the sports we invest in,” Lajeunesse says, blending vertical integration – teams, leagues, streaming – akin to F1’s ecosystem lock-in.

Director Nigel Li amplifies: “Professional athletes make the games exhilarating; fans make the sports’ true moments.” TGG’s expanding LIT Culture’s artist management to “sporting elites,” curating endorsements – think Lam in a Lit by Larry deal, doubling as viewership doubles YoY.

The Horizon: From Dink to Dynasty

Sports investing isn’t a side bet; it’s the future – Elixirr’s 2025 manifesto: “Built on intelligence, from performance to commerce.” Morgan Lewis flags youth pro leagues and betting as 2030 tailwinds. For family offices, it’s CSC’s “investing in emotion”: Passion yields 15% IRRs, per Citywealth. Pickleball? The LIV of rackets – disruptive, democratized, dollar-stacked. As Goldman Sachs quips, “From field to finance.” Grab a paddle. The serve is yours.

For the game. For the gains.