00:00I think the way that I came in, I was never able to get comfortable, never felt like I had
00:04job
00:04security. And once you get into kind of that mindset, you just keep striving for the next
00:09thing. So 10 years later, I was able to leave. Pretty accomplished. Awesome story, man. Talk to
00:14us about the Champion Fund. What is it and what are you trying to accomplish here? Sure. So the
00:19Champion Fund is an interval fund. So it's an SEC registered fund. And the mission and vision
00:25here is to make the sports asset class accessible to every investor. Over the last decade or
00:31so, we've seen more and more news and more and more conversation around the sports asset
00:37class and how it's growing. But it's typically been institutional investors only. And what
00:41we know, me personally, being the product on the field as a player, transitioning into the
00:47investment world, having some ownership and operational experience for about seven years.
00:53So I've been able to see this asset class from a bunch of different lenses. And the one
00:57thing that you realize is the biggest value catalyst for the asset class itself, the athletes,
01:02the fans, the coaches, administrators, they create all the value, but get none of the equity
01:08in it. So the Champion Fund is really a vehicle that makes that whole asset class accessible
01:13to every investor. How's been the response? It's been a really good response. Right now,
01:18we're out trying to secure those anchor investors, those institutional investors to kind of anchor
01:22the fund. But the concept has been really well received. The portfolio companies that we're
01:28in right now, really love the concept of being able to get to kind of a distribution network
01:33of investors that typically they wouldn't have access to. So it's been well received.
01:41Where do you guys see value today? Because I mean, the numbers have just gotten so huge.
01:48Like the NFL is not even a billionaire's club anymore. It's private equity. It's institutional
01:52money. And even the NBA, the value of these franchises, where do you see value in some of
01:57these maybe other areas of sports that are also growing?
02:00I mean, that's where we see the biggest value. We call it the value chain. So the fund itself
02:06breaks down across five different what we call sub-asset classes. So there's the sports teams
02:11themselves, which our focus will be typically on those emerging leagues. So think Syria, that's
02:18slightly underrated from a media value perspective. We're looking at sports ventures, which is growth
02:25stage technology companies, could be fan engagement tech, could be ticketing technology. We're looking
02:30at media and services businesses. We're also looking at real estate hospitality. That could be sports
02:36anchored mixed use. That could be stadium development itself. And then we're looking
02:41at fund to funds. So established fund managers that have a track record, have their own thesis.
02:47So we've taken asset class. We see value in all these different five buckets. And what we really
02:53believe is the true catalyst for all of the growth in the valuation is the media rights.
02:58So as media rights kind of displace and find their way downstream, we see the kind of a high tide
03:04effect. So it's interesting, like one of the leagues that really experienced explosive growth
03:10is the WNBA. And that's been just extraordinary over the last two or three years. They renegotiate
03:17their media rights pretty darn quickly here. How do the streaming services fit in here? I mean,
03:22is that going to be a source of media rights growth, do you think, for a lot of these maybe
03:26smaller leagues? Yeah, I think that's where the displacement is going to come. I think when you
03:30look at the linear broadcast networks that have traditionally been in the space, you're starting
03:35to see the Amazons and Netflixes of the world start to enter the space in a more meaningful
03:40way. Those media rights and those broadcast holders, the rights holders, have to go somewhere
03:47else. I got three questions. I got to squeeze them in here. How do you react in soccer when
03:53they fall down and fake like they're hurt? I want to know the truth. I literally turned
03:58it. I played hockey. I literally turned the TV off. What does Marquise Colton do?
04:02It doesn't register for me.
04:05Talk about the betting. When you were playing, it was Drew Brees is going to throw it at Marquise.
04:09Let's bet on it. It wasn't there, was it? Talk to the kids now about betting.
04:14I mean, it's prevalent. It's everywhere. And it's one of those double-edged swords. They tell
04:19you not to get involved with it, but you see it everywhere, plastered everywhere. You know,
04:23it's a touchy thing. It's going to be in the game.
04:27Do you know anybody who's made money at it over the long term?
04:30No, the house always wins.
04:32The house always wins.
04:33I got one final question. We got a huge response to you being on the show. I don't know much
04:39about football, but I know that Drew Brees threw the ball totally different than anybody
04:45else. And almost like in cricket or in baseball, the torque, the spin on the ball, I guess,
04:54was like once in a generation. What was it like catching that ball 20 yards, I'd say?
05:00It was moving a lot faster than you think. But he just made the game so easy. It was just
05:07the way he saw the field. If you were able to see the field the same way as he did,
05:11he
05:11made the game so easy. He would throw it away. You could be covered and still be open at
05:15the same time.
05:16So what's next here for the fund here? What's next?
05:20It's really just continuing to tell the story, continuing to find those anchor investor
05:26partnerships and just continue to get the word out. You know, we feel like we're building
05:30something that's unique and special.
05:31Cool.
05:32An email just came in. What do you think of the Lions this year? Are they stacked?
05:36They're great.
05:40I think this is the year I think you'll see more parity in any other year.
05:45Great. Marcus, thank you so much. Marcus Colton with us of the New Orleans Saints with all
05:49of his work with Champion.
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