• Emerging and women's sports of interest
• Considering both equity and debt strats
• Looking across sports and sports-related sectors

SteelPeak Wealth is actively investing in sports-related assets and managers for an internally managed fund, looking across teams and franchises, real estate, sports-related technology, and media and entertainment.

The $3.5bn firm is searching for best-in-breed partners that go beyond the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB.

Managers who focus on women’s sports, such as soccer or basketball, or other emerging sports like bull riding, sailing or cricket are of interest, CIO Maz Esmailbeigi told With Intelligence.

“What else can we bring to the table that hopefully will be the next billion-dollar valuation?” Esmailbeigi said.

The Goal-Line Growth Fund will allocate via funds and co-investments to four main sectors in the US and Europe: teams and franchises themselves; real estate associated with sports, including nearby retail or commercial real estate in addition to the stadiums and arenas themselves; sports technology, like wearables and analytic tools; sports media and entertainment.

SteelPeak has committed to three managers thus far, with the due diligence process ongoing for others and the search still open.

Director of alternatives Steve Dymant is looking to avoid overexposure to the biggest leagues. Though SteelPeak has invested in those leagues to gain some beta exposure, he expects alpha to be generated through emerging leagues.

“We’re looking for singles and doubles here,” he said.

SteelPeak is exploring both debt and equity strategies to generate the best risk-adjusted returns for investors.

Goal-Line Growth’s fundraise period will run through August 2026, with an initial target of $100m. It can allocate to co-investments in addition to funds.

SteelPeak wants to avoid allocating more than 20% of the fund to a single manager; Goal-Line Growth will likely include 4-8 underlying managers, depending on how much capital is raised and the timeframe.

The 10-year fund, which launched in August 2024, is open to external investors, including other RIAs, in addition to SteelPeak’s internal clients.

The due diligence process for Goal-Line Growth is the same as for client portfolios, with final decisions made by SteelPeak’s investment committee.

Dymant is looking for managers with experience in sports investing, although that experience does not have to be in the form of running a fund.

“We want to partner with managers who can access transactions today, but with an eye towards liquidity in the future. Have our partners been able to exit transactions in the past?” Dymant said.

He also prefers managers who invest their own capital.

SteelPeak will look at emerging managers because of the upside but has not yet allocated to any because they are wary of being too big a portion of a given fund.

Goal-Line Growth is geared towards SteelPeak’s high-net-worth and family office clients, who generally have a 15-20% allocation to alternatives.

“We wanted an uncorrelated strategy that provided diversification, long-term growth, and something our clients couldn’t get on their own by accessing a third-party manager,” Dymant said.

Read the interview on With Intelligence.