Once upon a time, celebrities wanted yachts, vineyards, and a pied-à-terre in Paris. Now they want a football club in Wales, a rugby team in the English Midlands, or the women’s equivalent of the Yankees.
Rob McElhenney arguably lit the touchpaper. He didn’t just buy into football; he bought into Wrexham. He turned down more glamorous options because he wanted to invest where it would matter, and matter it did. Alongside Ryan Reynolds, he brought money, visibility, and crucially, heart.
And my, how that spark caught fire.
Snoop Dogg now owns a stake in Swansea, rumours are swirling about serious Hollywood muscle sniffing around rugby, and the Winklevoss twins have just bought Bedford’s second team. Women’s sport is equally buoyant, with clubs like Angel City FC attracting a roster of investors that sounds rather like an Oscars after-party guest list.
Let’s be clear: this is a better model than, say, a cynical leveraged buyout (LBO). LBOs see team or club revenues go to service the debt taken on to buy it; their owners can then enjoy significant financial returns, potentially at the expense of investing in players or infrastructure.
So, a celeb takes a stake in a sports entity, great. But what happens when the PR sugar rush fades?
It’s one thing to turn up for a headline-making press conference and then stride around the pitch. It’s a whole other ballgame to sit in a crumbling directors’ box, jetlagged, on a wet Friday in the wilds of the UK’s winter when your side is losing its 15th match in a row. Unless you really care, it’s not much fun.
There’s no doubt that McElhenney and Reynolds are all in. Others may well be too but if sport becomes just another accessory in the celebrity portfolio – somewhere between the tequila brand, the perfume, and the candle that smells of a body part – it risks being treated with the same disposability.
Sport is not a vanity project, it’s culture, community and identity. The sums involved may be rounding errors to the mega-rich but they are huge for the clubs in which they invest. Bowing out because you have moved on to the next trend does damage.
And in the midst of this land grab, where are most athletes, after all these are the people who really understand the landscape? Well, for the most part, they’re investing in innovation – often in kind by lending their name to brands. While the stars of stage and screen are buying teams, sports stars are backing tech-led kits and apparel, data platforms and wearables.
In short, when it comes to the current sports gold rush, they’re choosing the picks and the shovels.
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