Co-Founder & CEO, Avenue Capital
Search every verified Marc Lasry interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Marc Lasry, CEO of Avenue Capital Group, discussed sports investing at a WSJ event in July 2026, describing sports as a hedge against AI disruption. He said that people want to feel something real and that nobody will go to a stadium to watch robots play. Lasry also noted a cultural shift in sports attendance, saying that when he was a child, his father would not bring his sister to a game, but that today most parents would bring a daughter. He commented on WNBA media rights, stating that while ratings are about a third less than men's games, the media deal is only 3% of the men's deal, and predicted a "massive influx of capital" into the WNBA when rights come up for renewal in four years. In May 2026, Lasry was honored as Innovator of the Year by StartUp Westport. During the event, he recounted his career path from bankruptcy law to investing, and described his approach to distressed debt as focusing on liquidation values and aiming for 15-20% returns by "hitting singles and doubles." He recalled that during the 2008 financial crisis, Avenue Capital lost $5 billion of its $20 billion under management, and said he lost 10-15 pounds and could not eat. Lasry also expressed skepticism about current AI valuations, saying they are "way too high" and that he will wait for opportunities to emerge.
“The biggest issue that you have over the next 5 10 years is nobody knows which industries are going to get wiped out by AI. The one industry that I think is the greatest hedge against all of that is sports so you're gonna have more entertainment, right? And people want to feel something real and they're going to know....”
“It's a cultural shift. So, what I mean by that is when I was a kid, I would go to a game with my dad. He would never bring my sister. Not that he didn't like her, it's just he didn't think about it right today. So, for those of you who have kids, raise your hand for those of you who would not bring your daughter to a g...”
“I made them 25 million. This is in 1986. That's a shitload of money back then. What do you think my bonus was? If you make somebody $25 million, what do you think your bonus should be? ... 10,000. That was the bonus.”
“Problem with distressed debt is people are naturally nervous when something bad happens. So they become non-economic sellers. So you sell because you have to. So we... you would take advantage of that. People say you took advantage of it. I say I was providing a service. I was providing liquidity.”
“In 2008 we were running 20 billion. We lost $5 billion that year. ... I think I lost 10 15 pounds. I couldn't eat. Everything you bought was going down. Made no difference.”
“I always look just at liquidation values. I look at what if everything goes wrong, am I okay? I don't I'm not trying to hit home runs like AI or anybody who's investing in the markets hitting home runs. All I try to do is if I can make 15% 20%. You know, you do that over a long time, it it adds up. So, we're trying to...”
“I think all these valuations are way too high. Doesn't mean they they they're not going to go higher, but they'll come back and they always will come back. And um I I think if you look at the internet... yes, there's going to be three or four companies that are going to dominate. It looks like anthropic should be one....”
“I think the draw is people are starting to realize that sports is the only thing that you actually can see live. And as people get more and more nervous about AI, um the one thing they're realizing is that people will watch sports. They'll see it live, and they want to be there. It's the same thing as music. So, it's g...”
“I think on the credit side what we're seeing, things are slowing down. And what I mean by that is we're able to charge more. So, people are nervous. That nervousness is great for us because the economy's still doing well. When you look around the world, yes, there's issues, but you're still got positive GDP. Things are...”
“I came to United States when I was seven... The greatest thing about this country is it allows you to succeed — you need an education and for me my mother and father were very much believers in education.”
“One of the things I learned very early on is don't worry about things you can't control, because if you can't control it why are you worried? I worry only about things I can affectuate.”
“When we bought the Milwaukee Bucks in 2013 we paid the most that anybody had ever paid for an NBA team — the idea was very simple: let's fix it and in two years we'll sell it for like 700 million or 800 million. The dirty secret about sports is that the minute you own a team, you quickly realize you're actually trying...”
“You only make money in sports three ways: ticket sales, sponsorship, media. That's it. If I know my ticket sales are going up and my sponsorship is going up and my media is going to go up, then I'm going to do it.”
“Four years ago Larry Olson starts a league called Sail GP, guarantees CBS that he'll have 100,000 viewers and in return he gets paid $40 million a year — they just had a race and two million people watched it.”
“Six years ago you could have bought a women's soccer team here in the United States for one to two million; the team in LA, Angel City, just sold for $250 million — teams in Europe you could buy for 5 to 10 million euros today, and in five years they'll be worth more.”
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