🔊 Why This Billionaire Invested In A Former Athlete's Media Platform

Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has invested in Pivot25 Productions, the media company co-founded by former NFL player and analyst Ryan Clark.

Schultz will serve as an investor and strategic adviser, helping Pivot25 expand beyond podcasting into live experiences, corporate partnerships, brand licensing and multiplatform entertainment.

“The Pivot Sports Podcast” is produced in partnership with NFL Films and is co-hosted by former Jacksonville Jaguars star running back Fred Taylor and former Miami Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder.

Financial details were not disclosed.

Why This Matters

When Ryan Clark was fired from ESPN on live TV in July, I’m sure he didn’t imagine 2 months later he’d be cosigned by one of the wealthiest people on the planet.

But it’s a testament to the moment athlete-led media is having.

15 years ago, athletes were hardly encouraged to do anything outside of their sport.

Today, some are commanding bigger dollars speaking into a mic than they did on the playing field.

The most notable include:

And this doesn’t even include the athletes who are building their own multi-faceted media empires, such as Steph Curry, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant.

But in this specific situation, what makes Schultz's involvement interesting isn't just the money.

It's the validation that this is still the beginning of this movement.

Schultz built Starbucks into one of the most recognizable consumer brands in the world.

He understands loyal, emotionally connected audiences better than almost anyone.

When someone of this nature backs a company like Pivot25, it shows that they’re building something with staying power and real value.

That's a key distinction in athlete-led media right now.

The athletes creating sustainable business value aren't necessarily the ones with the most followers or biggest names.

They're the ones who built trust with a specific audience, stayed consistent, and then found ways to monetize it.

Every one of the shows mentioned followed this model.

And for what it’s worth, these shows aren't just content plays.

They're community infrastructure.

And community infrastructure, when built right, becomes a platform.

The vision for Pivot25 is clear, and Schultz's network and operational experience will help accelerate it.

Athlete-led media works so well because it is built purely on authenticity, distribution, and trust, which are among the few remaining moats in today’s world.

When you have all three, the opportunities are endless.

• RedBird Capital Partners, a global private equity firm focused on sports, media and entertainment, has announced a deal to acquire a majority stake in Puck, valuing the four-year-old digital media company at approximately $250 million. The investment firm will become Puck’s largest shareholder under the deal, according to Variety. Under the deal, longtime investors Standard Investments and TPG will exit their stakes, while RIT Capital will remain a minority investor alongside RedBird (more here).

• Fever, a global technology platform for culture and live entertainment, has raised $250 million in a primary equity financing round led by EQT. Point72 Private Investments, Baillie Gifford, and other existing investors also participated. Fever plans to use the new capital to expand beyond the 55 countries in which it currently operates, deepen its presence across major entertainment categories, and increase investment in its technology platform (more here).

• Fox Factory $FOXF ( ▲ 0.16% ), a holding company that designs and manufactures high-performance ride-dynamics and suspension components, sold Marucci Sports, a baseball and softball sports equipment company, for $225 million, returning the baseball equipment brand to private, founder-led ownership. The acquiring investor group is led by Marucci founder and CEO Kurt Ainsworth and includes current and former Major League Baseball players. The return to private ownership will also allow Marucci to maintain its focus on long-term brand building, product innovation and cementing relationships with athletes, teams, retailers and partners (more here).

• Magic AI, a UK-based AI-powered fitness mirror company, has raised $11 million. Beringea and IW Capital co-led the Series B round, with Active Partners, PXN Group, Accelerate Ventures, Doorway and Ventures Together participating. The round brings the startup's total raised since 2023 to about $20 million, and the capital will fund the company’s US expansion (more here).

• TopDog, a real-money skill-gaming company, has raised a $2.5 million Seed round led by Boston Seed Capital. The Raine Group, Bullpen Capital, Versus Ventures, Spoondrift Capital, and Permit Ventures also joined the round. The company will use the funding to accelerate user acquisition and add more real-time games built around sports. The financing brings the company’s total funding to $4.1 million (more here).

• pMotion, a movement intelligence platform, has raised an undisclosed Series A round from Cobalt Capital. David Blitzer's Bolt, WME Group, Nimble Ventures, Venezia FC's owners, Soul Ventures and Canaan Ventures also participated in the round. The startup uses smartphone cameras to analyze athletes' range of motion through a two-minute assessment, providing feedback to correct underlying issues. The company plans to expand from elite athletes into youth and consumer markets, with partnerships expected to onboard over one million young athletes (more here).

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• Unrivaled Basketball, the innovative 3v3 women’s basketball league, has announced a multi-year partnership with German sportswear giant Adidas. The deal involves Adidas supplying Unrivaled with on-court uniforms and performance gear, providing apparel for all off-court basketball programming, and launching an assortment of official licensed merchandise, including jersey and lifestyle collections. Adidas will also work with Unrivaled on initiatives to support athlete storytelling and building the profile of the league’s growing roster of talent (more here).

• Major League Soccer team Inter Miami CF has secured American Airlines as the club’s first-ever airline partner. The multi-year partnership sees American Airlines become an official partner of Inter Miami and a founding partner of the newly opened Nu Stadium and wider Miami Freedom Park development. American Airlines will also become the entitlement partner of the 1,800-seat West Club hospitality space at Nu Stadium, and be integrated across the club’s content initiatives, including a travel-focused content series (more here).

• FairPlay Sports Media, a global technology-driven media network and BetTech infrastructure provider, has partnered with WagerWire, a secondary marketplace for online sports wagers and fantasy entries, to bring the Wire Markets prediction platform to its international sports audiences. As part of the deal, FairPlay made a strategic investment in WagerWire and gained rights to market Wire Markets across its brands and media network (more here).

• Databricks, a cloud-based data, analytics, and AI platform, and Cal Athletics have announced a partnership in which Databricks has become the naming rights partner of the athletic department. The deal also includes renaming Cal football's home field to Databricks Field at California Memorial Stadium. The upscale club level formerly known as the “Stadium Club” will also now be known as the “Databricks Club,” and Haas Pavilion will feature LED signage advertising the company, and its logo will be placed on football helmets (more here).

• DoorDash, a leading food delivery service, and Stanford Athletics have announced a multi-year partnership in which DoorDash has become the official jersey patch partner of Stanford Athletics. Overall, at least 15 varsity programs will feature the branded apparel, and DoorDash will also have a prominent presence across multiple departments through both facility signage and digital display integration. Teams will also integrate DoorDash into staff and student-athlete meal planning, adding an enhanced level of convenience throughout the season (more here).

• FutureSports, an independent sports data and index company, has signed an agreement with Major League Baseball to create financial indexes tracking the performance of all 30 MLB teams. The Chicago-based company will use official league data to develop CME FutureSports Performance Indexes that measure teams' cumulative performance using play-by-play statistics (more here).

• Owl Ventures, an early-stage edtech venture capital fund, has named NBA legend, entrepreneur and investor Chris Paul as a venture partner. In the role, Paul will work with founders, connect portfolio companies with strategic partners, and use his business and community relationships to help companies expand their reach. Owl Ventures manages more than $2.2 billion in committed capital across a portfolio of more than 100 investments (more here).

• World Team Tennis (WTT), a relaunched mixed-gender professional tennis league, announced that Coco Gauff has joined the Florida Flamingos Racquet Club franchise as a player and owner. Gauff will compete in the Florida Flamingos' home matches at Amerant Bank Arena on December 14th and December 15th, and will join teammates Tommy Paul, Learner Tien, Brandon Nakashima, Iva Jovic and Eva Lys (more here).

• Topps, a leading trading card company, announced it has extended its partnership with Brazilian football legend Neymar Jr., making Topps his exclusive partner for trading cards, stickers, and trading-card games. In addition to leveraging Neymar Jr.’s name, image, and likeness, Topps products will feature his exclusive autographs and match- and player-worn memorabilia (more here).

• The UFL is switching two of its eight markets for the 2027 season as it continues migrating toward smaller stadiums. The newly announced markets are in Rhode Island and Colorado, replacing Birmingham and Houston. The league also announced its second expansion market for the 2028 season. Utah will join Oklahoma City, which was announced last fall as a new market, bringing the UFL to 10 teams by then. All the new markets will play in soccer stadiums (more here).

• Major League Baseball restructured its ownership rules this past summer, allowing private equity firms to hold ​up to 20% of a franchise, per Front ‌Office Sports. The change aligns with the NBA, NHL and MLS, which have a 20% private equity ownership cap. ​One stipulation of the new ​MLB rule is that private equity cannot own ​more than a franchise's controlling owner. MLB rules allow a controlling owner to own at least 15% of a franchise. Private equity ownership would be capped at whatever percentage the controlling owner holds, with a minimum of 15% (more here).