Private market investing in sports franchises is trending

Private market investing in sports franchises is trending, with NBA team stakes fetching record multiples due to streaming revenue growth and global fan engagement. Like BlackRock, its peers, T. Rowe Price TROW and Franklin Resources, Inc. BEN have been expanding into alternative markets to strengthen their market share and diversify revenue streams. Earlier this month, T. Rowe Price partnered with Goldman Sachs GS to offer a diversified suite of public and private market solutions tailored for retirement and wealth investors. As part of the collaboration, Goldman will invest roughly $1 billion in T. Rowe Price, acquiring a stake of about 3.5%. The alliance will focus on expanding private market access for individuals, advisors and plan sponsors, offering Target-Date Strategies (mid-2026), model portfolios, multi-asset offerings, personalized advice and advisor-managed accounts. It will also give Goldman Sachs access to T. Rowe Price’s retirement-focused clients, combining stable income with growth potential. In November 2024, State Street Global Advisors joined forces with Bridgewater Associates to boost its core alternative investment strategies, while, in September, State Street partnered with Apollo Global to enhance investors' accessibility to private markets. Earlier this month, Franklin Resources collaborated with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (“CIP”), DigitalBridge and Actis to extend its infrastructure investment offerings for private clients. In June 2025, Franklin Resources agreed to acquire a majority interest in Apera Asset Management to expand its direct lending capabilities and strengthen its global alternatives platform. Arch is quickly growing, with 160 employees and around $260 billion in assets managed by its customers on the platform. But for a company dedicated to private markets, the real billion-dollar question is whether it will pursue its own public offering or be acquired. Streisfeld said that 85% of exits in financial services are sales to strategics, or an acquisition by a similar, typically larger company, pointing to BlackRock’s 2024 purchase of the alternative asset data provider Preqin for $3.2 billion as an example. Streisfeld said that Arch has the scale to eventually IPO. “But I do think in any of those types of markets, being a public company doesn’t always have its advantages,” he added. Private market investing in niche consumer brands is yielding robust exits as acquisition activity spikes in the DTC e-commerce sector.