Family offices bet on sports, from pickleball leagues to smart soccer balls

A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.

Last month, investment firms of the ultra wealthy went all-in on sports and played on multiple fronts.

At the beginning of May, billionaire Tom Dundon’s namesake family office partnered with Apollo’s new sports fund to invest $225 million in Pickleball Inc., the parent company of Major League Pickleball and the PPA Tour. Dundon is already an owner of the Portland Trail Blazers NBA team and the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes.

As for the major leagues, Michael Dell, as part of an investor group led by Silver Lake’s Egon Durban, bought a 25% stake in the Las Vegas Raiders football team. Dell is also a minority investor in the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs and the Austin Gamblers, a professional bull riding team.

Family offices made 51 direct investments in companies in May, holding steady from April’s deal tally, according to data provided exclusively to CNBC by Fintrx, a private wealth intelligence platform.

A Goldman Sachs survey released last fall found that 25% of family offices have invested in sports or related assets like ticketing or arenas and another quarter are interested in doing so. Asides from love of the game, many investors are drawn to the sector as an inflation hedge.

Student housing mogul David Adelman has used his family office to extend his reach into the sports economy. Adelman is a part-owner of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, English Premier League club Crystal Palace and the New Jersey Devils ice hockey team and an investor in sports merchandise giant Fanatics.

In May, his investment firm Darco Capital co-led a $12 million Series A round for PlayerData along with David Blitzer’s family office Bolt Ventures and venture capital firm Pentland Ventures. The UK startup makes GPS-enabled vests and soccer balls that help athletes track their performance.

Adelman told CNBC that some teams in his portfolio use PlayerData products. Crystal Palace, for instance, uses the vests and smart soccer balls in training its academy players. The technology’s application for athletes at all levels, including youth sports, was part of the startup’s draw, according to Adelman.

“What stood out to me was the ability to take something complex and make it simple, practical, and accessible,” Adelman said.