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Sport is no longer solely passion projects for the super-wealthy. Today, it is becoming a mature asset class supported by institutional and long-term private capital and the shift is visible in the deals transforming clubs, competitions and infrastructure across Europe and beyond.
Private capital is stepping in where banks can’t or won’t. Stadium developments, transfer receivables and media rights futures sit outside the traditional banking comfort zone, but private capital benefits from its ability to structure flexible, asset-backed facilities, particularly where there is also an equity or sponsorship play.
Consider the Premier League
Apollo’s estimated £70m–£80m financing package for Nottingham Forest – reportedly secured against future broadcast and commercial revenues – is a clear example of private capital underpinning liquidity at pace, in a context where banks have been reluctant to lend against football income streams previously deemed volatile.
Similar revenue-backed structures have appeared at Bournemouth, Burnley and Southampton in recent seasons; this is now an established financing market rather than an opportunistic niche.
Across Europe, the same sport pattern holds
Oaktree’s €385m investment to Inter Milan – lent after years of financial turbulence – have given the club stability, with the lender ultimately taking ownership when the repayment deadline passed.
Elliott’s earlier stewardship of AC Milan produced one of the most successful recoveries in European football. In Spain, Sixth Street’s landmark deal with FC Barcelona – providing capital against future LaLiga broadcast income and the club’s commercial assets – were among the first to show how private funds could monetise intangible sports rights at scale.
Formula 1 has become a template for how regulatory certainty attracts capital. The financial ‘cost cap’ regulations introduced within F1 has made team finances more predictable, turning financially-fragile outfits into investable assets with clear revenue lines from prize money and sponsorship.
The sport’s transformation under Liberty Media – from Drive to Survive’s global reach to upgraded hospitality and digital products – has further increased valuations. The financial barrier to entry to buy into an F1 team is higher than ever because the asset class has become more stable, transparent and profitable.
These examples illustrate a deeper point: sport is becoming more institutional. Revenue transparency – whether from centralised media rights, performance-based prize funds or commercial licensing – and greater regulatory certainty makes it possible to price risk sensibly.
London and the UK sit at a central hub of this shift. It is home to the Premier League, the majority of Formula 1 teams, world-leading and commercially-minded restructuring and insolvency processes and the legal certainty global lenders rely on. That combination makes the UK a natural hub for structuring cross-border sports financing.
Private capital investment encourages long-term planning: investors are repaid through sustainable performance and ascertainable revenues, not forced sales or short-term cost cutting. For clubs balancing sporting ambition with financial reality, that shift can prove transformative.
Private capital isn’t replacing passion – but it is providing the discipline, flexibility and long-term horizon that modern sport increasingly depends on. As the market matures, these financing structures are likely to become as integral to sport as the competitions themselves.
Jamal Saleh is a corporate partner at law firm Edwin Coe LLP
