Chris Smith

Los Angeles

Staff Writer at Sports Business Journal

Sports finance for @SBJ; formerly @Forbes.

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Articles

One to watch: Cordillera Investment Partners digs into NWSL

4 days ago | sportsbusinessjournal.com | Chris Smith

When my SBJ colleague Chris Smith read the list of investors for the NWSL’s expansion team in Denver earlier this month, names like Peyton Manning and Mikaela Shiffrin leapt off the page. One name not as familiar to the sports industry? Cordillera Investment Partners. Smith notes the $1.8 billion private equity firm has made a specialty of investing in “niche, non-correlated assets” like boat marinas and whiskey barrels.
SailGP sells French team stake to Ares, hires Deloitte to manage expansion process

1 week ago | sportsbusinessjournal.com | Chris Smith

SailGP has brought on private equity giant Ares Management as a team investor and tapped Deloitte to oversee the addition of two expansion teams ahead of the 2026 season. Ares, through its sports, media and entertainment fund, has led the acquisition of a 25% stake in SailGP’s French team from the league. Ares is joined in the investment by Sportsology Capital Partners.
Forty Under 40: Arthur Burke, Proskauer

1 week ago | sportsbusinessjournal.com | Chris Smith

Arthur Burke got his first taste of sports law around a decade ago, when he interned with the NFL and NHL while in law school at New York University. But he didn’t pursue a career in the field until after nearly six years at Davis Polk & Wardwell, where he worked primarily on private equity transactions and other M&A deals.
Forty Under 40: Mike Hill, Covington & Burling

1 week ago | sportsbusinessjournal.com | Chris Smith

From multibillion-dollar national media rights to local over-the-air broadcast deals, it’s hard to find a sports media agreement Covington & Burling’s Mike Hill hasn’t worked on. Hill, who graduated from Fordham University’s law school in 2008, said he’s long had a passion for media and intellectual property law, which became a focus across stints at law firms Kramer Levin and Greenberg Traurig.
Proliferation of sports funds highlights growing need for differentiation

1 week ago | sportsbusinessjournal.com | Chris Smith

In April, renowned dealmaker Michael Klein told the crowd at SBJ’s World Congress of Sports that it was “a dramatic overstatement” to say institutional capital had flooded into sports, noting the industry still is dominated by individual investors while in other mature sectors “institutional dollars are roughly equal to 80% to 90% of the asset class.” But that is quickly changing, as private equity firms continue to carve out stakes across the sports landscape, and recent months have featured...
Forty Under 40 Hall of Fame: Michael Melnitzky, Allen & Company

1 week ago | sportsbusinessjournal.com | Chris Smith

When Michael Melnitzky started working for investment bank Allen & Company nearly 15 years ago, teams were still largely viewed as trophy assets, and brokering their sales was a niche practice. Today, pro teams comprise one of the most attractive asset classes, with private equity and other institutional investors flooding the space.
Elevate launching PE-backed initiative to invest in college sports

2 weeks ago | sportsbusinessjournal.com | Ben Portnoy |Chris Smith

Private equity has finally come to college sports. Elevate is set to announce the creation of the Collegiate Investment Initiative, a $500 million initiative backed by PE firm Velocity Capital Management and the Texas Permanent School Fund, Sports Business Journal has learned. The investment vehicle will provide a new funding source for collegiate athletics programs pursuing capital-intensive projects like facility upgrades and renovations.
Teamworks raises $65M in Series E funding round

3 weeks ago | sportsbusinessjournal.com | Chris Smith

Teamworks, the enterprise SaaS provider for collegiate and professional sports organizations, has raised an oversubscribed $65M Series E funding round led by investment firm Dragoneer Investment Group. The company has also acquired ARMS Software, which provides over 400 collegiate athletic departments with tech solutions for compliance, fundraising and recruiting.
SailGP’s United States team seeking new investment at $125M valuation

3 weeks ago | sportsbusinessjournal.com | Chris Smith

SailGP’s U.S. team is raising new investment at a $125M pre-money valuation, according to multiple sources familiar with the effort. If successful, it would mark the far-and-away record value for a team in the fifth-year sailing league. Two sources told SBJ the team is aiming to raise total new investment of between $10M and $20M, with another source indicating the team will issue new equity and that an investment bank is not being used to solicit new investors.
Wasserman’s The Collective to manage commercial sales for Mercury13 portfolio

3 weeks ago | sportsbusinessjournal.com | Chris Smith

Wasserman and The Collective, the agency’s women’s-specific advisory practice, have signed on as the exclusive commercial sales team for women’s soccer multi-team ownership group Mercury13. The Collective, which aims to drive greater investment in women across sports and entertainment, will leverage Wasserman’s global capabilities to manage commercial sales for all teams and assets across Mercury13’s portfolio. Its launch plans include activations around the upcoming Cannes Lions festival.