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What to know about the rise of sports fandom investing

12 March 2021
Dan Ackermann

For nearly a century, investing was driven exclusively by ticker symbols. Now, there's more room for passion-aligned investing — and sports is at the forefront of that movement.

The state of play: Sports fans have always invested their time and attention into the players and teams they love. Now, there are more ways than ever to actually invest in them.

  • Whether it's through sports betting, fantasy sports, or buying and selling trading cards and memorabilia, it's never been easier to bet on an athlete or team's future success.
  • With so much access to information, fans and collectors can form hypotheses and leverage their expertise by placing a "wager" on what they believe will happen.

For example...

  • Short-term: If you think Ja Morant, Jonas Valančiūnas and the Grizzlies will beat the Nuggets tonight, how do you invest in them? By placing a bet on the game.
  • Medium-term: If you think Valančiūnas will have a huge second half of the season, how do you invest in him? By picking him up off the waiver wire in your NBA fantasy league.
  • Long-term: If you think Morant is going to be a future Hall of Famer, how do you invest in him? By buying his rookie card (or fractional shares of it).

What they're saying: "Loving the things you invest your time and money into are so much more important now, and beloved athletes unlock that passion," says Rob Petrozzo, co-founder of Rally, a platform for buying and selling equity shares in collectibles.

  • "The old adage that '10–20% of your portfolio should include alternatives' has always meant real estate, precious metals and art."
  • "As assets like trading cards continue to dominate the conversation, I can envision 'sports' becoming a part of a lot of portfolios as opposed to just being part of an individual's collection or fond memories."

Consider this ... One Rally user I spoke with shared that he has a folder on his phone titled "Investing/Betting." Inside of that folder:

  • Robinhood (stocks)
  • Coinbase (crypto)
  • DraftKings (sports betting)
  • Rally (collectibles)

Go deeper: Read the full Axios Sports special report on the rise of sports fandom investing

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.