Swiss-based private equity firm Chiron Sports Group is launching an investment initiative called Legacy 25 that will back U.S. college athletic programs.
The fund, which plans to invest $150 million across multiple college programs, will include a handful of well-known athletes as limited partners. It will be another private equity player circling college athletics as programs become increasingly professionalized.
Legacy 25’s partners will include a handful of ex-New England Patriots: Rob Gronkowski, Brian Hoyer, Matt Slater, and Jason and Devin McCourty. Devin McCourty said the growth equity fund will help fund roster building during the NIL revenue-share era, while potentially bringing resources to college athletes.
“Nobody knows how the college sports landscape will turn,” McCourty, a three-time Super Bowl champ turned NBC Sports analyst, said in a phone interview. “But I thought having a voice and being involved was a great way to start. We are trying to navigate finding what’s the best way to help these schools.”
Other limited partners include current and former athletes with Boston ties, including former Red Sox star Kevin Youkilis and pro softball player Maya Brady; Brady is the niece of former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
Chiron Sports Group has a global portfolio with equity stakes in E1 Series Team Drogba and Venezia FC. As part of its college sports push, it’s in talks with mid-major programs who are seeking to create new revenue streams through existing commercial assets. It also has eyes on assisting non-revenue sports programs.
“We can find smaller schools that are trying to make a name for themselves,” McCourty, a former Rutgers standout, said. “Ones that are trying to have a special year and gain some national attention, while there’s other schools that are just looking to be competitive in their conference.”
Chiron Sports Group will sweeten its offering to schools by providing access to a consortium of media and tech providers it partnered with ahead of the Legacy 25 launch. This list includes ticketing platform Jump, which it invested in its recent Series A round, digital CRO platform Vega Sports Intelligence, content creator College Sports Co., video streaming platform YBVR and media company CSMG.
“We’re facilitating a shift in professionalization by partnering with companies like this that create revenue for colleges with a low up-front capital need,” Chiron Sports Group partner Leo Rifkind said in a video interview. “Hopefully it can solve some budgetary problems.”
Rifkind said its investors are a point of strength for schools who aim for a pure growth capital boost. Chiron Sports Group is backed by two family offices in billionaire Christian Angermeyer’s Apeiron Investment Group and Robin Lauber’s Infinitas Capital.
Mitch Heath, a co-founder of digital software platform Teamworks, will serve as an advisor and partner for Legacy 25.
In recent years, college sports have been increasingly moving from an amateur model to a professional one where athletes can earn money from their market value. The recent House v. NCAA athletic pay settlement is an accelerator into this new era where many schools are looking to not only engage fans but also get creative with revenue generation.
Legacy 25 will compete against other firms that are also pushing various strategic and capital resources to college athletic programs. Sports consulting practice Elevate, for example, launched its College Investment Initiative in June.
McCourty looks forward to teaming up with his former teammates while impacting the next generation of college athletes. While he wants to see a solid return on his undisclosed investment, he is also in it for the experience.
“If I walked away from this in 10 years and said, ‘Hey it didn’t net us a lot of money, but we changed lives and the landscape of college sports, I would be perfectly fine with that,” he said.
