Kara Nortman, co-founder of Angel City Football Club and managing partner of Monarch Collective, and George Pyne, CEO and ...
What Kara Nortman said
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Kara Nortman discussed sports franchise valuations, noting the reported $12.5 billion Lakers sale shows sports assets are scarce, unique IP with strong fundamentals, as seen in the $10 billion purchase a year ago. She highlighted women's sports growth, citing Deloitte's first measurement at half a billion three years ago and now at three billion, versus a half trillion men's market. She affirmed MLS and NWSL are meaningfully up, preparing for Brazil and World Cup 31 in the US, noting the US women's team got 25 million viewers in 2015. She described women's leagues as innovative, with Monarch investing in five teams across two countries and sports, plus a rights-based business, attracting new partners like beauty brands and building infrastructure faster than men's sports.
Key takeaways
Women's sports market grew from $500 million to $3 billion in three years, vs $500 billion men's market.
Monarch Collective invests in five teams across two countries, two sports, and one rights-based business.
US women's national team drew 25 million viewers for 2015 Women's World Cup final.
Lakers sale at $12.5 billion shows sports assets are unique IP with strong fundamentals.
0:18And with so much excitement around live sports, the question now is where will the money go from here?
3:52Well, I just think sports is pretty predictable and again it's separating, right?
4:12The WNBA, which is now really starting to see some significant gains in valuations, and then a lot of niche sports that are suddenly not niche anymore. How far does this go?
5:37Is this going to be one of those events, particularly not for this year, but for the women's World Cup, to actually maybe give a further boost to the NWSL and Major League Soccer?
8:15... leagues embracing private capital a little bit more to an extent, do you anticipate that we will continue to maybe see that grow, meaning what the league will allow in terms of percent ownership of limited partners and outside investors?
And this is Bloomberg Deals. Bloomberg Deal senior reporter Michelle Dave is still with us and she's been following the latest deals in the sports industry. And Michelle, there's a big one out there.
That's right, Roma. The world of sports has become a multi-trillion dollar industry and teams continue to change hands at huge valuations. Earlier today, news broke that Josh Kushner and Disney's Bob Iger are buying the LA Lakers for reportedly $12.5 billion in what will be the biggest deal ever for a sports team. They're buying the iconic basketball team from Guggenheim CEO Mark Walter. And his $10 billion purchase of the team last year held the previous record for most ever. Compare that to the Seattle Seahawks, which were just sold in a deal reportedly valued at more than 9 billion. To put this all into context, Sportico today came out with its annual US rankings with the Cowboys, Rams, Giants, and Warriors topping the list. Beyond the US, this week, reports surfaced that Jeff Bezos and other investors are close to buying a piece of Liverpool football club from the owner of the Boston Red Sox. The minority stake would value the English soccer team at about $8 billion, and this would be Bezos's first foray into sports ownership. And with so much excitement around live sports, the question now is where will the money go from here? Roma.
All right. Well, Michelle, I think we have two people who can answer that better than anyone. That brings us to this week's investment committee where we take you into the boardroom debates in real time. And joining us right now is George Pine, the CEO and founder of Brewan Capital. And also joining us is Kara Nortman, co-founder of Angel City Football Club and co-founder of the Monarch Collective. Great to have both of you here. And Kara, I got to start with you because obviously you've made a big investment in a WNBA franchise team at what was then considered a pretty eyepopping value. I just got to get your thoughts here on the latest news about the Los Angeles Lakers. The deal potentially valued at 12 billion, the most ever for a single sports franchise.
Well, I think it speaks to the uniqueness of these assets, right? They're scarce assets. It's one of the few things we do in life that makes us feel human these days, gathering in person to watch these games. The Lakers are obviously an iconic franchise, the team I grew up watching as well. But it is really interesting, right? It sold, I believe, a year ago for $10 billion. So, it's gone up quite a bit in even a year. But I think in some ways we look at these experiences as almost like unique IP, and no one knows that better than Bob Iger given his years running Disney. And Los Angeles obviously is one of the biggest markets in the world. So, I think it shows the fundamentals of the strongest sports teams and leagues will continue to drive kind of outcomes for a long period of time.
Well, George, I want to bring you into this conversation because obviously the value of these teams goes beyond just what they put on the court or the field. It's the whole ecosystem around it. And of course when you see a guy like Bob Iger associated, your first thought is okay there's going to be a big media business bigger than what the Lakers already have probably, because that's going to come up if this deal goes through.
Well right, and you're seeing sports really further differentiate itself in terms of entertainment. Entertainment streaming has been commoditized because there's so much to choose from. And then when you think about artificial intelligence, entertainment's being disrupted by artificial intelligence, sports will be enhanced. So sports has real tailwinds right now that it's never really had before. And you're seeing it in the valuations and of course it's a very safe investment. So if you're looking to put investments into sports teams, they're safe, they're predictable and they performed over a long period of time.
With that performance, no concerns about that performance maybe slowing down at all. Is this just the future that we're in right now where sports is everything?
Well, I just think sports is pretty predictable and again it's separating, right? Because entertainment is less special. So there are very few things that bring together hundreds of millions, in the case of 1.5 to two billion people for the World Cup. Very few things can bring people together like that, unifying. So it's an incredible platform that's really separating from everything else.
And Kara, I do want to talk about this idea of just how much sports has broadened out here in the US. Obviously, it's NBA, NFL, MLB, and of course, maybe the NHL to a smaller degree, but we've seen the proliferation first of men's soccer, now with women's soccer and your involvement there. The WNBA, which is now really starting to see some significant gains in valuations, and then a lot of niche sports that are suddenly not niche anymore. How far does this go?
10 more exchanges in this transcript
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Nortman, K. (2026, August 12). Kara Nortman and George Pyne Talk Sports Business | Bloomberg Talks [Interview transcript]. Bloomberg Podcasts. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1194742/
MLA
Kara Nortman. "Kara Nortman and George Pyne Talk Sports Business | Bloomberg Talks." Bloomberg Podcasts, 12 Aug. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1194742/.
BibTeX
@misc{nortman2026_1194742,
author = {Kara Nortman},
title = {Kara Nortman and George Pyne Talk Sports Business | Bloomberg Talks},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, Bloomberg Podcasts. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {aug},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1194742/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
