By Frank Dalleres
While no one can doubt the achievements of a combined eight NBA titles, 10 Grammys, 21 Olympic medals, 40 Emmys, 42 Grand Slams and 113 Formula One wins, it is away from the stages, studios and stadiums that TMRW Sports could be about to change the game following an investor announcement last week.
Founded by Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and media executive Mike McCarley – and including investors as varied as Justin Timberlake, Serena Williams and Gareth Bale – TMRW Sports is a progressive sports, media and entertainment company harnessing technology to create new pathways for the next generation to enjoy the games they love.
The company’s first project will be TGL, an innovative virtual golf league launched in partnership with the PGA Tour, and is the perfect example as to how the modern athlete is becoming increasingly savvy to purpose-led opportunities and driving value beyond their own capital resource.
In recent history, preference has been shown towards consumer facing and enterprise technology companies with a focus on sports, fitness and gaming. But opportunities where athletes can combine their broad reach and cultural relevance to expose their fanbases to new audiences, as well as follow their passion for other sports and projects, is now becoming the norm.
That is why the TMRW Sports and TGL investment is pertinent. Partnership opportunities such as these must be authentic and align with personal values, while the golden triangle intersecting high growth, scalable, purpose-driven initiatives, accelerated by athlete influence and institutional funding, creates long lasting, powerful and symbiotic relationships.
It comes, then, as no surprise that the TMRW Sports investor group includes Steph Curry, Andre Iguodala and Williams. The trio of US-based athletes have already set up their own investment vehicles to grow companies which exist between sports, media, technology and entertainment.
However, the inclusion of various UK and Europe-based sports investors in TMRW Sports, such as Andy Murray and Lewis Hamilton, is significant as athletes closer to home look to replicate the successful blueprints of their US counterparts.
Just last month, Lionel Messi launched a new investment firm, Play Time, focusing on global opportunities in sports, media and technology which will be run by venture capital investor Razmig Hovaghimian.
While there is little detail on the size of the fund, it is clear that the vehicle will invest in stage agnostic opportunities where Messi and his partners can add value beyond just writing a cheque. Hovaghimian’s launch statement detailed how Messi and his family “want to continue to have a direct and lasting impact on and off the pitch”.
Once athletes have achieved everything in sport, focus turns to the three pillars that build a legacy away from it: investments, partnerships and social impact.
The era of player empowerment is changing the traditional commercial model of how athletes are aligning themselves with new opportunities as Europe-based athletes look to follow the example set by the likes of Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Kevin Durant.
While you will be hard pressed to find an all-star line-up of investors as iconic and impressive as TMRW Sports, legacies built off the pitch via strategic investments are going to become more and more frequent.
Ben Peppi is head of sports services at JMW Solicitors.
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