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You’ve Hit Capacity. Now What?
You built your business by saying yes to everything. Every detail. Every deadline. Every late night.
But now? You’re leading less and managing more.
BELAY’s eBook Delegate to Elevate pulls from over a decade of experience helping thousands of founders and executives hand off work — without losing control. Learn how top leaders reclaim their time, ditch the burnout, and step back into the role only they can fill: visionary.
It’s not just about scaling. It’s about getting back to leading.
The ceiling you’re feeling? Optional.
Highlights:
The global sports industry is valued at $417 billion in 2025 and is on pace to surpass $600 billion by 2030, fueled by 8%+ annual growth and record institutional capital flows.
Media rights revenue exceeds $57 billion this year, with technology platforms (Amazon, Apple, YouTube) now accounting for nearly $10 billion annually and driving a shift to direct-to-consumer models.
Private equity and sovereign wealth funds have invested more than $31 billion since 2023, with 30–40% institutional ownership in top leagues like the NBA, Premier League, and IPL.
Athlete and creator-led ventures now represent a $5B+ ecosystem, with individual stars and athlete-backed syndicates transforming both franchise value and media engagement.
Women’s sports, esports, and franchise cricket are the fastest-growing asset classes, with women’s league valuations above $2.7B and the combined cricket ecosystem exceeding $18B in 2025.
The industry now delivers 8–12% annual IRR for major franchises, while maintaining a low (0.08) correlation to public markets, cementing sports as a true alternative asset class.
Key risks include rising cost pressures, media rights fragmentation, PE/sovereign concentration, and regulatory scrutiny, especially outside Tier 1 leagues.
Africa, APAC, and MENA are now the next frontier for growth, investment, and risk, as the global sports capital stack expands and diversifies.
Contents:
Market Outlook
The global sports industry now stands at $417 billion, a number expected to top $600 billion by 2030, sustaining a robust 8% CAGR. This evolution is bigger than pure size: backed by over $65 billion in institutional capital flows since 2020, sports have matured from passion plays to engineered portfolio assets. Major deals, strategic exits, and fierce global capital allocation battles have decisively moved sports investment into the economic mainstream.
In 2024, annual consumer spending on sports hit an all-time high, with households averaging $1,122 globally on tickets, streaming, and gear.
The top 10 franchises/club sales now routinely register $3B+ transaction values, with premium soccer and NFL teams fetching upwards of $5B.
“Sport isn’t just entertainment, it’s infrastructure for attention”
1. Media Rights Inflation vs Saturation
Broadcast and streaming rights generate more than $57 billion globally in 2025, over 70% of major league revenues come from media alone. Tech and direct-to-consumer platforms (Amazon, Apple, YouTube) now account for nearly $10 billion in annualised rights value.
Financial highlights:
NFL signed a $110B, 11-year deal set a new high-water mark for global rights.
NBA follows with its $76B, 11-year deal.
The Olympic Games and Premier League maintained $6B and $4.8B cycles, respectively.
IPL’s $2.7B domestic/overseas rights confirmed cricket’s seat at the global money table.
Risks:
Platform churn is rising. U.S. sports subscriptions now average $39/month per household, with cancellations at a record 27% this year.
Only the top one-third of rights holders are seeing inflation-proof revenues; the rest face margin compression and bidding volatility.
North America and Europe account for over 60% of all global media rights spending but APAC and MENA are now adding $13B+ per year in new deal flow.
“Streaming isn’t a disruptor anymore, it’s the new stadium lease.”