Panel, Conference Presentation
Game Changers: Innovation and Evolution in Sports | Milken Institute Global Conference 2024
Milken InstituteHeather Brooks Karatz, Michele Kang, Marc Lasry, Candace Parker, Ryan Spoon, Masai Ujiri
- Several speakers anticipate ownership expansion and new business models, including acquiring WNBA and NBA teams, launching a new sports fund for short-term large returns, and modernizing Yahoo products across mobile, fantasy, and content while launching a specific football editorial and monetization venture.
- Financial and operational targets include breaking even at the multi-club level within five years, expecting women's sports valuations to eventually converge with men's teams (moving from $50–60 million to billions), and noting Angel City's valuation increased at least 100-fold over four years.
- Media rights are projected to undergo significant growth, with a shift in TV content ratios from 95% men's to a potential 50-50 or 80-20 split within the next five years, while the first NWSL media deal is currently in its initial year of a four-year cycle and future deals for women's soccer are predicted to be much larger, requiring five-plus years of investment to reach the second deal.
- Specific media deal timelines include the UK Women's League deal starting next year, which is expected to determine future investment scales, and the expectation that the third women's soccer media deal will be multiples of the second.
- Future market shifts include SailGP investment opportunities for early entrants to generate tremendous returns and a prediction that by 2050, one in four global people will be African, driving the transfer of Western business, banking, real estate, and technology sectors to Africa.
- Infrastructure development in Rwanda involves opening a new entertainment district with a stadium and arena next summer, while overall industry success is viewed as dependent on hands-on experience and the competitive landscape becoming more intense.