Hugo Sever – VP, Private Equity Value Creation – APEX
Henry Baldwin – Director – 369 Partners
Michael Payne – Chairman & CEO – Payne Sports Media Strategies
Luke Jackson – Director – Walker Morris LLP
ISC 2026 concluded with a session on investment: asking what the smart money is saying about the future of sport.
According to Hugo Sever, specialist investment vehicle APEX is “a strong proponent for mid-market properties”. With top-tier teams and leagues demanding considerable capital for entry – and arguably less scope for multiples on return as the media rights market tightens – the group’s focus is now on teams, leagues and events that are “under-capitalised and under-commercialised”. These, he said, offer the prospect of growth from a lower base – and a bigger set of follow-on markets to sell into.
The sports industry is still one in which experience and identity also matter. According to Henry Baldwin, Director of 369 Partners , athletes can access investment offers that others might not. That is because of the possible value they add to a deal –especially for early-stage businesses – through their networks, media reach and IP.
Baldwin cited case studies like the takeover of football club Wrexham by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny as evidence of the impact star power can produce. And Sever – reflecting on Joshua’s investment into Alpine F1 – confirmed that the involvement of top athletes has yielded measurable results. Not every opportunity will be the right one but the sector, he said, was only scratching the surface of what is possible
Sports marketing pioneer Michael Payne – who recently wrote his own history of the sports business, Fast Tracks and Dark Deals – said that sport’s “sheer entertainment value”, emotional resonance and ability to cut through give it considerable investment appeal. At this point in its development, however, he argued that every aspect of its business model was changing at an unprecedented pace.
Rights holders and promoters, he said, cannot afford to be conservative. Payne is a consultant to World Volleyball and explained how it had spun off its commercial arm to sell to private equity. The thinking had not only been to raise capital for new concepts but also to separate the long-term business vision from short-term political fluctuations within the federation.
Motivations for sports investors have begun to shift. Luke Jackson of Walker Morris LLP highlighted a trending interest in the volumes of fan engagement and performance data now being generated within sport.
There are legal implications to consider around ownership and fair use of that data, he added, but innovative application of it has the potential to unleash new returns. Sever confirmed the attraction from an investor standpoint but added that sellers must have a story to tell about what is being done with it and the actionable insights that can be derived.
An informed perspective remains critical for successful investments. As Baldwin noted, environments like football clubs often require constant renewals of capital to stay competitive.
Payne – an advisor to Formula 1 in the Bernie Ecclestone era – reflected on Liberty Media’s journey since its takeover of the premier motorsport championship. Its early years, he suggested, were defined by a process of learning just what it had bought. But after some missteps and unsuccessful hires, it had taken the series to another level – unleashing the potency of digital channels, data, and a personality-led approach to storytelling.
“It’s becoming a poster child in terms of taking the experience beyond the track,” he said. Still, he sees unrealised potential in its close ties to the technology sector, which he believes could be showcased through events that position race hosts as tech hubs.
The near and medium-term opportunities for investors, the panel agreed, might lie beyond the major players of today. Youth sport was identified as one prospect for expansion.
With higher-profile Olympic sports like swimming and athletics struggling to find their role in the marketplace, Payne suggested that more niche sports – like a reinvented modern pentathlon – could be the ones with the flexibility to make commercial progress. For Sever, the opportunities could lie in sports with inefficient rights structures, like cycling, or those with huge under-monetised audiences, like kabbadi.
Wherever the value appears, as commercial models are reconfigured, investment has become a vital framework for assessing where sport, its partners and its fans look next.