Two key factors will set today’s sports investor apart, according to LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil and Liberty Media CEO Derek Chang: investing in teams with upside to their valuations, and investing in global brands.
O’Neil and Chang were interviewed separately by Sportico editor-in-chief Scott Soshnick for the latest episode of Sportico Sports Business Presented by Endava, airing Monday, June 29, on the YES Network and other outlets.
The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia recently pulled back on its financial support of LIV Golf, and the league is seeking an investment ranging between $250 million and $350 million to continue operations beyond 2026. O’Neil told Soshnick he is up to manage the challenge that LIV faces, but that the “piano on [his] chest” feels a bit bigger this time compared to other career challenges he’s faced. The advantage for future LIV investors are the 13 teams in the league with large “upside franchise values.” He pointed out the LIV is truly global with play spanning five continents and 10 countries.
In turn, Chang said that Liberty Media’s interest in owning F1, a deal completed in 2017, was because “we saw that (F1) had not (nearly) realized its full commercial potential.” Like O’Neil, Chang said the bump in the growth of team valuations was a draw, citing F1’s billion-dollar team valuations. He mentioned that F1 has the advantage of being a global brand and that deciding where to add a handful of additional race slots in the next five to 10 years “will be a very important decision.”
