Tim Tebow looks to grow his investment portfolio of sports teams with a new venture.
The former University of Florida star and Heisman Trophy winner turned entrepreneur has partnered with Orlando-based family office Magnolia Hill Partners to launch an investment platform, Momentous Sports. The platform, which plans to invest in pro sports teams and related real estate development, wants to raise $100 million for its debut fund this fall.
Tebow will be joined by Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway, former NFL quarterback Blake Bortles and Chick-fil-A CEO Andrew Cathy. The grandson of late Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy is investing through his private real equity firm (Four Stones). Other execs on the cap table include former Robinhood president Scott Friedman.
“They’re not just celebrity partners who are on a page, but (they) are actually invested capital-wise but also with day-to-day operations, bringing decades of experience,” Momentous Sports founder and CEO of Magnolia Hill Partners Marley Hughes said in a video interview. “And we have [loads] of experience internally on the real estate side.”
Momentous launches as more family offices aim to compete for positions with pro sports franchises alongside private equity and sovereign wealth funds. The leadership behind Momentous believes its separator is investing in stadium districts and surrounding mixed-use real estate with “patient capital,” allowing it to be more creative in structuring.
“I don’t know of anyone that’s specifically focused on a mandate about investing in team [business] but also as much, if not more, on real estate,” Hughes said. “A lot of the institutional folks fit one of those two buckets… For us, it makes a lot of sense that those two are together.”
Momentous, the largest outside investor in United Soccer League expansion club Sporting JAX in Jacksonville, Fla., already plans to deploy capital into building a mixed-use development near the team’s future stadium. Tebow, a Jacksonville native and a minority owner of the team since 2022, will assist Magnolia Hill Partners on identifying other opportunities.
While it isn’t excluding the five major U.S. leagues, Momentous believes its approach could be most effective in less mature leagues with teams based in secondary markets like Omaha or Charleston. It aligns with the ethos of the firm, which partners with middle market companies across business sectors from hospitality to consumer brands.
Momentous isn’t ruling out work with college athletic departments as they become more professionalized, and is open to stadium districts in Europe and Central America. Right now, though, it hopes its Sporting JAX investment can be a prototype as it expands its portfolio.
“While Arctos and these others have their funds within the wealth channel, we have a different way of structuring and doing business,” Hughes added. “Hopefully it allows access to people who previously didn’t have it.”
