Co-Founder & CEO, Avenue Capital
Marc Lasry 2026-MAY-12 Tuesday
Marc Lasry 2026-MAY-12 Tuesday https://youtu.be/PVVyAWZHhEU.
About Marc Lasry
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.
Transcript (24 segments)
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Interviewer0:00
Sports is the next frontier in Marc Lasry's quest for great investing opportunities. He's the former governor of the Milwaukee Bucks, owns an English soccer team, and has several stakes in other sports-related enterprises. He's the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Avenue Capital Group, and he is with us following his panel here at SOHN. Welcome back. It's good to catch up with you. Thank you. It's good to be back.
Let's just talk about this asset class of sports. And I'm curious as it has it performed relative to your expectations when you made such a big move with your first fund in that area.
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Marc Lasry0:32
I think it's actually been better. Um, I knew when we started it, we were going to be in the first inning. Um, what I've been surprised at is the amount of capital that has continued to go into this space. And I actually think I've been pleasantly surprised. I think it's great. And I think you're going to see more, you know, pension plans and groups coming in. What's that capital chasing? Like why is the draw there? 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 going to be one of the few things that going forward, um, nobody's going to watch robots play. Nobody's going to do anything like that.
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Interviewer1:25
Disintermediated by AI.
Is that in one respect why valuations can continue to go up as you've got all this money coming into the pool? I
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Marc Lasry1:34
Think it is because you know that ticket pricing is going up, sponsorship's going up, but more important, media. Because it's the one thing that you can't record. Like you didn't record the Super Bowl and watch it two years later. Like nobody does that. Nobody is going to say I'm going to binge on watching sports. You have to see it in that moment, and that's what media companies need, and that's what they want.
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Interviewer1:59
You don't feel like we're getting towards a ceiling in any respect. You know, I was following those reports on the Seattle Seahawks and the reports were that the process of selling the team from the estate of Paul Allen was a little slower than expected. I'm thinking, well, I mean, if you're talking about 10 billion dollars, aren't you reducing to some degree the pie of people who are eligible, if for no better words, to have interest to do that? What are your thoughts on that? Look, when I bought the Bucks,
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Marc Lasry2:29
Believe it or not, when I paid 550 million, I paid the most that anybody had ever paid for a basketball team. I know that's hard to believe. No, it was 13 years ago. So, at the time, every time a team sells, it's always the most and everybody says the same thing. I think if you look at what's happening, you see that it's just going to continue to grow because the demand for it is outstripping sort of what is available and more and more people are watching.
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Interviewer3:00
So, it's the scarcity aspect of it supersedes everything else.
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Marc Lasry3:03
I think it does. That's number one. Number two, what also people have come to realize is you own a fan for life. So, if you're a Yankees fan and the Yankees don't play well, you're not changing your mind and saying, 'Okay, I'm going to be a Mets fan.' Or I'm going to be, you know, a Red Sox fan. You stay that fan and that is something that's unique and different and it's an asset class that people are starting to realize is there to stay.
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Interviewer3:30
Do you think there's any truth to it if you look back at what's happening now again with the Seahawks? I had always gone into this saying, 'Well, of course it's getting harder for these things to sell at these huge numbers because it's hard to find somebody who can come up with the 30% liquid that you need to put down.' And then I was speaking with somebody else this morning who said, 'No, no, you got it backwards. It's getting harder to come up with the 70% because the numbers are so big and you're asking others to put up all of this money for no controlling interest in the team whatsoever. It's the 30% person that has all the say.' And that's true.
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Marc Lasry3:32
I think with that you're seeing, I also think you're going to see with the Seahawks, you're going to probably have three or four people who bid for it. Right, it's not one. You know, when we were buying the Bucks, um, you know, Wes and I were the only ones at that moment in time. And today you're seeing for everything. You saw it for the Celtics. You see for every team there's always more than two or three people. So, yes, the pricing keeps going up and I don't disagree with you. I do agree with your point that the 70% um, you know, would you put up 7 billion to have no say? You shouldn't. Let me put it to you that way.
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Interviewer4:44
People of your ilk aren't used to putting up a lot of money without having any say. That's what I'm thinking about.
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Marc Lasry4:46
I agree with that, but there's still a lot of people who are going to put in 100, 200, 500 or a billion.
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Interviewer4:58
Let's talk about the markets, credit markets. What do you see? Uh, because the stock market's been booming. What about credit?
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Marc Lasry5:03
Look, 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've still got positive GDP. Things are still good. What people are nervous about on the credit side is they want to be able to sell that day. Well, that you can't do. Right, you can't.
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Interviewer5:32
Liquid.
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Marc Lasry5:33
It's illiquid. And you know, people think, 'Oh, well, it's supposed to be liquid. I should be able to get out.' Well, no. That's hard. And if you want to get out, you can, but there's a discount to that. And I think that's what people are upset about.
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Interviewer5:44
Remind me the last time you were on, quote, 'Of course you should be concerned when I asked you about what was happening with private credit.' Are you still the same level of concern today, more or less than a couple of months ago?
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Marc Lasry5:55
I think it's the same level. The reason you should be concerned is you invested in something that was illiquid and today you want liquidity. Well, that's not the case. Now, are there going to be issues? Yes, there are definitely going to be issues, but you're in a positive GDP environment, but you can't say, 'Hey, I want to get out and I want you to pay me par.' You can say, 'I want to get out and we're happy to buy it at 80 cents on the dollar.' Um, because we think it is going to be money good or you're going to get 95 cents.
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Interviewer6:25
Do you think you're going to have more opportunities coming up to do what you do?
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Marc Lasry6:30
I think there's going to be a lot more opportunities. You saw today with the inflation number, as inflation is going up, that means the Fed isn't going to reduce rates. So, if you have higher rates, that's going to cause more issues. You better have a GDP that's going to keep on growing. All right, give us more to talk about. Mark, it's good to see you as always.
Always good to see you. Thank you.
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Interviewer6:47
Lasry here with us at the Sohn conference. We're just getting started here live in New York City. Coming up next, Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn joins me exclusively. Just got off the main stage after talking about his best ideas. We'll discuss them coming up and later Thoma Bravo's Orlando Bravo, he'll join me live to talk about the recent action in the software trade. Don't go anywhere. We're back on the bell in New York City after this.