Ultra-wealthy capital flows into the professional sports industry

Tom Dundon’s investment firm recently signaled a major commitment to the pickleball market, partnering with Apollo’s sports fund to inject $225 million into Pickleball Inc. The capital supports the parent company of both Major League Pickleball and the PPA Tour. For Dundon, who already holds ownership stakes in the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers and the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, the deal reinforces a strategy of bundling emerging leagues with established franchises.

Simultaneously, Michael Dell has expanded his sports holdings by joining an investor group led by Silver Lake’s Egon Durban to purchase a 25% stake in the Las Vegas Raiders. Dell’s broader portfolio already includes positions in the San Antonio Spurs and the Austin Gamblers bull riding team. These moves reflect a wider trend among elite private wealth managers, who completed 51 direct investments in May, maintaining a consistent pace of market activity according to intelligence platform Fintrx.