Sports IB

Does anyone work in the sports sector of investment banks? If so, could you share your experience in terms of what you do? I have seen many private equity firms invest in sports franchises, in the past couple of years? Is it just me, or is anyone else interested in this niche market?

8 Comments
 
[Comment removed by mod team]
 
[Comment removed by mod team]
 

At my office (Big 4 in Europe), a sort of sport service line is taking shape but mostly focused on football (soccer).

Many investment firms in the last approx. 5 years started looking at sport companies hence there are some M&A processes, LBO/debt advisory and strategy/business plan engagements, also involving BBs

In my office in particular M&A team is managing a couple of sell-side mandates of teams playing in the national first series. 

I think this is a sort of trend coming from the globalization/capital opening/PE growing interest and, at least in Europe, general financial difficulties of current entrepreneurs owning these teams. 

 
Most Helpful

Raine does a fair amount in sports, as does PJTMoelis and EVR here and there, but it's such small potatoes to be honest. Sports franchises are super "inside baseball" (pun intended) in that you're selling trophy assets, so valuation kinda goes out the window and it's all about who wants to buy, which is generally ego and emotionally driven (Stevie Cohen, etc). There's not many deals occurring and the ones that are, relative to the mega deals, are fairly small. Think about it, the most valuable teams in the world, Yankees/Cowboys/Real Madrid are what, $5bn? Those aren't the teams which come to market either: the Mets went for like 2bn. Again - small potatoes compared to regular way M&A. 

What usually happens is that there are a few brokers who know all the franchise owners and league management. These guys get hired on most of the deals and you really can't get anything done without them. One of these guys taught an MBA class of mine and talked about how it's mostly back of the envelope valuations that devolve into who is willing to pay more, not based on $10mm and 4 weeks due diligence, but on how bad they want to own a team. It's cool, don't get me wrong, but it's investment banking at its brokeryest and the dynamic is closer to selling high end residential real estate than true M&A. 

Array
 

GS has a strong Sports specialized group within the IBD group. I’m not sure but I think they facilitated the sale of a few European soccer teams. 

 

In at dolore quasi iste ipsam. Autem est natus sunt quos facere ipsum aut. Vero consequatur sit quis distinctio. Iusto sed quo velit harum. Est sed vel a voluptatem optio rerum. Qui cum voluptatibus dolorem.

Veritatis earum est rerum omnis omnis. Provident rerum quod quo dolores excepturi. Vero autem sunt earum iusto fuga mollitia nisi. Ipsum et est ipsam nihil quisquam ullam dignissimos.

Totam tenetur ut sed dolorum alias beatae. Saepe quia reprehenderit quia velit et. Nihil quaerat odit provident quibusdam id. Nisi neque quidem itaque totam est similique repellendus velit.

Career Advancement Opportunities

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan No 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (51) $260
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (26) $182
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (76) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”