Private equity funds are becoming increasingly important in world sport. From the Bundesliga to Serie A, from the Six Nations rugby league to the American leagues, competitions and teams - such as Inter Milan or Sevilla in recent days - are crying out for new sources of funding.
The sports industry continues to professionalise and governance and ownership models are evolving: sports conglomerates and multinationals are being created, business synergies are being exploited in a global market and the Covid-19 collateral effects have only accelerated some of these realities, especially in Europe.
In the case of football, investment funds are gaining importance among the four typologies of club ownership, which also distinguish between membership models (such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic, Osasuna or the NFL's Green Bay Packers), private owners (who invest part of their fortunes in acquiring a team) and partially listed clubs (Juventus, Borussia Dortmund, Ajax or Benfica, among others).
They are conglomerates with full or partial control of clubs, following an increasingly relevant model in Europe.
These are conglomerates (in some cases, originating from a sovereign wealth fund or a specific country, but usually with highly professionalised management) that control, wholly or partially, clubs, in a model that is very present in the US and Canada and is becoming increasingly important in Europe, according to the study. The way they operate varies: some operate as true multinationals, others with a multi-sport approach and some operate as a union of investors...