Apologies for getting this issue out a day late.

Issue 6

Opening Take

Last week Stan Kroenke agreed to buy the Los Angeles Angels for $4 billion. This is more than another sports team sale story.

Kroenke doesn't buy sports teams. He builds ecosystems - and the franchise is almost always the least interesting part of the deal.

As of early 2026, he owns approximately 2.7 million acres of land across the United States - more than any other private individual in the country. More land than Yellowstone National Park. Every team in his portfolio of the LA Rams, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche and Arsenal FC comes bundled with something else: development rights, surrounding infrastructure, long-term real estate upside. SoFi Stadium, the home of Kroenke's Rams (and LA Chargers), anchors a billion-dollar entertainment district. Ball Arena, home to his Nuggets and Avalanche, sits at the center of an expansive development project in Denver. Arsenal has stadium expansion plans tied to a Dubai-based developer.

The Angels fit the same playbook. Angel Stadium is one of MLB's oldest and least popular ballparks, sitting on 130 acres of city-owned land near three freeways and a train station. California just passed legislation that could unlock new development opportunities if the team reverts to its original name, the Anaheim Angels.

Kroenke's pattern is there. So here's the question: if the real asset is the land and what gets built around it, what are we actually valuing when we say a franchise is worth $4 billion?

At the level Kroenke operates, sports ownership may be less about the sport than we think.

What I'm Watching

• Private equity's next target is youth sports. I already have so many issues with youth sports in this country - the coaching, parents, single sport focus at young ages. Now, the same capital structures reshaping pro sports ownership are setting their sights on youth sports - and the implications for how families, clubs and local operators compete for resources are just getting started. Read more​
• Russell Westbrook joins Project B as Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer. The recently retired NBA MVP isn't just lending his name - he's taking an equity stake and operating role in the new women's basketball league set to launch in January 2027. I'm excited to watch how he transitions the tenacity he had on the court to business. Read more​
• Omri Casspi has built an $800 million venture firm after a decade in the NBA - and he's just getting started. Swish Ventures counts eight unicorns across 20 portfolio companies, with early bets on AI and cybersecurity, and is now raising a new $200M fund. The smartest athletes and former athletes aren't just writing checks. They're building institutional investment platforms. Read more​

Insight of the Week

60.9%. That's how much kicker and punter salaries increased across college football Power 4 programs this season, according to data from Opendorse. The average P4 specialist is now making $225,000. The highest-paid kicker is earning $600,000.

No union or agent negotiated that. A group chat did.

Kickers and punters - one of college football's tightest-knit groups - started openly sharing what they were being offered. Conversations turned into compensation benchmarks. That's a data strategy.

When the information is shared, the market corrects. When it isn't, the party with more information wins - and in college athletics, that party has historically not been the athlete.

The kickers created what every other position group lacks: a transparent, peer-to-peer compensation dataset. One season of shared data produced a 60.9% salary jump.

What does that number imply about every other position group that isn't sharing?

Looking Ahead

• ​SBJ Drive Conference, Indianapolis (Sep 22-24)
• ​SBJ Game Changers Conference 2026, New York (Sep 30-Oct 1) - Celebrating & Elevating Women in Sports
• ​Wharton Sports Business Summit, Philadelphia (Oct 16)

If you're attending any of these, reply and let me know. I'd love to connect.

Odell