Athlete-led investment firms, IBM’s AI capabilities
Athlete-led investment firms have been increasingly emerging overseas and the trend is catching on in Australia
Today’s lineup:
Athlete-led investment firms have been increasingly emerging overseas and the trend is catching on in Australia
IBM’s AI capabilities are enhancing digital & broadcast fan experiences, and streamlining the operations of some of the world’s biggest sports
Not a subscriber yet? Discover specialised sports marketing insights, tailored for sports industry professionals within Australia and across the globe. If you work in sports for an agency, brand or rights-holder then this is for you.
Emirates renewed its Australian Open partnership with a deal until 2029 estimated to be worth $35m - It also extended its 25-year partnership with Collingwood FC for another 5 years which will see it become the longest standing partnership within Emirates’ sponsorship portfolio
M&M’S Australia became the Official Confectionery Partner of the Australian Open and will launch Australia's 1st pop-up M&M’S store at the tournament (the brand’s unofficial 8th store in the world) as part of its multi-year partnership
Sydney Thunder unveiled cryptocurrency and financial exchange platform, Swyftx, as a Major Partner for the KFC BBL|14 season, whose logo will feature on the back of the playing shirts
The North Queensland Toyota Cowboys inked a new 2-year partnership with Suncorp - this coincides with news that Suncorp is opening a new office hub in Townsville which will create jobs for an extra 120 people in the region
NEC renewed its partnership with Essendon FC until the end of 2027 and will retain the naming rights of the Bombers’ high-performance facility, the NEC Hangar
Coopers Brewery signed a 3-year partnership with the Adelaide Crows giving them Naming Rights to “The Bunker” at Adelaide Oval, where fans can sip on a Coopers beer while looking into the Crows’ changerooms and warm-up area
Perth Glory women’s team announced a new deal with ice-cream brand, Baskin-Robbins for the 2024/25 Ninja A-League season whose recently redesigned logo will feature on the club’s ALW home & away shirts, along with its training apparel
Toyota Forklifts agreed to a partnership extension with the Canberra Raiders until the end of 2027 which will see its brand remain on the front and top of the back of the NRL jersey
The QLD Government awarded a grant to Brisbane Roar to help expand the Football Queensland and Roar Football in the Community Program which is aiming to have 10,000+ young Queenslanders take part in it during 2025
The Australian Sports Technologies Network in collaboration with the NRL and Advance Queensland announced a 10-week program that gives Queensland-based sportstech startups an opportunity to pitch innovative tech ideas to the NRL
The NRL launched its Las Vegas 30sec promotional TVC which features NFL legend turned “Rugby League Expert”, Rob Gronkowski
Rugby Australia released its “From Green To Gold” strategy paper outlining its blueprint for performance, participation and promotional success from 2025 to 2029
After going viral and drawing comparisons to Usain Bolt, Aussie teenage sprint sensation, Gout Gout, signed a professional contract with Adidas
KOJO announced that its expanded its PR offering via a strategic new partnership with renowned public relations consultancy O’Rourke PR
SEN acquired a majority stake in the Perth Lynx, the WNBL franchise, and is aiming to leverage the synergies of its ongoing ownership of the Perth Wildcats and other women’s sporting teams
The SA Government reported that an additional 2,574 hotel rooms were booked over the recent Australian vs Indian Test match at Adelaide Oval
The VIC Government announced a landmark 3-year investment that will see Netball Victoria and the Melbourne Vixens host 3 annual pre-season events in regions including Ballarat, Bendigo and Traralgon
A new report by Play the Game found that Saudi Arabia has struck 900+ sponsorship deals across the sporting landscape as part of its quest to gain soft power and global influence
Powerade unveiled The Athletes Code, a first-of-its-kind initiative that allows athletes to pause their partnership commitments to focus on mental health without losing their sponsorship
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Athlete-led investment firms have been increasingly emerging overseas and the trend is catching on in Australia
Athletes are increasingly choosing ownership instead of traditional sponsorship endorsements for several strategics reason, including:
Greater upside potential: Equity can offer more significant long-term financial rewards than one-off sponsorship deals
Ongoing revenue post-retirement: Investments provide a continuous income stream, even after athletic careers end
Revenue diversification: Reduces reliance on sports income alone
Increased control: Enables athletes to influence business decisions and outcomes
Many of the world’s highest profile athletes have investment firms.
To name a few:
LeBron James
Lionel Messi
Serena Williams
Kevin Durant
Lance Armstrong
Stephen Curry
Carmelo Anthony
Aaron Rodgers
Alex Rodriguez
Last month, current NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo joined the list, launching Build Your Legacy Ventures last month.
More recently, former NBA star Metta World Peace, teamed up with former Boost Mobile CEO Stephen Stokols to launch a venture fund called Tru Skye Ventures, and they’re looking to raise $100m for the fund over the coming months.
The UK's first athlete-led firm, The Players Fund, has brought together 60+ elite athletes such as Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Jess Ennis-Hill, Stuart Broad and Jofra Archer to make 300+ investments so far.
How do these firms operate?
Athlete-led investment firms typically bring together the unique expertise of athletes and seasoned financial professionals.
Collaboration - Athletes team up with investment experts for support with things such as due diligence and portfolio management
Strategic focus - Investments often align with industries that fit the athletes' profile such as technology, sports, media, entertainment, consumer goods, and health & wellness
Brand promotion - Athletes use their influence to leverage their networks and promote their portfolio companies via endorsements, appearances, and social media
Athlete x Investment in Australia
Athletic Ventures is a venture capital fund (founded by Matt de Boer and Matthew Dellavedova) comprising of 500+ elite athletes across 25+ sports, targeting early-stage technology, consumer, healthcare and sports companies alongside Tier 1 investors
Many of Australia’s top athletes are invested in Guzman y Gomez Mexican Kitchen and are helping to fuel its rapid growth thanks to Athletic Ventures
More: Athletes buying burritos
Five Ventures is a seed-to-early-stage angel investment syndicate founded by Australian athletes, Michael Hooper, Matt To’omua, Bill Meakes and Dane Haylett - Petty
Many of Australia's current and ex-athletes are making waves in finance and entrepreneurship:
Steve Smith was an early investor in the Aussie-founded online photography marketplace Snappr, reportedly earning a 600% return in the years following. He also reportedly had a 10% stake in online mattress retailer, Koala, worth $100k in 2015, which grew to $13.7m by 2019
Chris Judd founded Cerutty Macro Fund - an independent active manager of global, but predominantly Australian equities
Ed Cowan is an Advisor at Athletic Ventures, part of the investment team at TDM Growth Partners, and is an Advisory Committee Member of Wildcard Ventures
Many athletes are launching their own startups
More: Australia’s highest-profile sports stars are venturing into entrepreneurship
The athlete investment phenomenon is evolving, as is the broader sports investment landscape. From launching startups to forming community-led funds, athletes are redefining their roles as business leaders.
IBM’s AI capabilities are enhancing digital & broadcast fan experiences, and streamlining the operations of some of the world’s biggest sports
For 30+ years, IBM has partnered with some of the world’s most iconic sports to help deliver world-class digital experiences.
Here's some things worth noticing about IBM’s sports partnerships and recent use of AI:
1. UFC
IBM was recently named as the UFC’s first-ever Official AI Partner and are developing "UFC Insights Engine” in partnership with the UFC’s Research & Development team.
Fans will be served branded insights, stats and graphics across pre-event programming, Pay-Per-View broadcast, social media and in-venue video boards with real-time advanced analytics that enhance broadcast and digital coverage.
Unique insights & advanced analysis will focus on:
Live bouts
Fighter tendencies
Match outcome projections
Method of victory
Insights Engine is expected to reach hundreds of millions of UFC fans across 170 countries when it launches in 2025.
2. The Masters
IBM recently added AI-powered features to The Masters website and mobile app such as:
Hole Insights
A tool that uses match data from the past 8 years (170,000+ shots) to generate detailed breakdowns of current and historical play, as well as projections of anticipated play for any given hole e.g."Shots historically hit in this location have an 82% chance of resulting in a birdie."
AI Narration
20,000+ video clips in the Masters app are narrated by a generative AI model that's trained to speak the specific language of the tournament. E.g. A sand trap is a “bunker” and golf fans are “patrons”
3. Wimbledon & US Open
IBM has developed a range of tennis-themed features on the official websites and apps of Wimbledon and the US Open.
Across both tournaments, IBM:
Captures almost 10m data points each year
Reaches 30m+ fan via digital platforms
It recently launched a new tool that produces AI-generated content and stories at scale, using each of Wimbledon’s and US Open’s unique Tone of Voice.
Its Large Language Model can produce detailed, long-form articles for all 254 US Open matches within minutes of its conclusion, offering fans in-depth analysis of player performance, key statistics, and match highlights.
This year, IBM and Wimbledon unveiled ‘Catch Me Up’ - a new generative AI feature that delivers pre and post-match player cards with pre-match performance analyses and predictions, along with post-match statistics, highlights and daily summaries of play.
This new AI tool helps editorial teams to:
Scale content production
Save massive amounts of time + focus on higher value tasks
IBM's sports partnerships are shaping the future of AI in sports
IBM works with a number of world-class sports brands.
Ferrari recently announced a multiyear partnership with IBM, which will see the tech giant enhance Ferrari’s digital and on-track fan experiences.
Much like traditional sports partnerships, awareness is a key driver for IBM, and it uses sports to help illustrate the broader potential of its AI capabilities and how it can drive collaborative innovation in various industries.
Some of IBM's AI innovations have been met with mixed reviews but they remain at the forefront of technology in sport and AI innovation more generally.
IBM previously had a 2-decade partnership agreement with Tennis Australia and the Australian Open before it was replaced by Infosys as its technology partner in 2018.
Could we see IBM re-enter into Australian sports again soon?
Adidas - Key Account Executive
Adidas - Manager, Brand Coach
Adidas - Sr. Manager Market Expansion - PAC
AFL - Marketing Cloud Engineer
AFL - Salesforce Engineer
Brisbane Lions - Video Content Producer
Bursty - Social Media Director
Football Australia - Venue Overlay, AFC Women's Asian Cup 2026 LOC Office
Foot Locker - Digital Insights Analyst
Foot Locker - Digital Marketing Coordinator
Foot Locker - Director, Digital Marketing
GWS Giants - Hospitality Coordinator
HCF - Partnerships Manager
Moonee Valley Racing Club - Project Development Manager
NBL - Club Commercial Manager
Netball Australia - Partnerships Lead
Netball NSW - Commercial Partnerships Manager
Penrith Panthers - Digital Content Coordinator
Racing Victoria - Media & Communications Manager
RACV - Head of Leisure Marketing
Richmond FC - Digital & Social Media Coordinator
Rip Curl - Social Media Co-ordinator
Rugby Australia - Social Media Manager
RugbyWA - Partnerships & Philanthropy Coordinator
Seven - Sports Sales Executive
Southern Cross Austereo - Producer- Sport
Southern Cross Austereo - Producer Sport - LiSTNR Original Podcasts
Snap Inc - Lead, Talent Partnerships
Speedo - Senior Marketing Manager
St Kilda FC - Executive General Manager, Strategy
Supercars - Sales Manager
Supercars - Senior Partnerships Manager
Ted - Producer, Sports
Tennis Australia - Digital Content Experience Manager
Tennis Australia - Head of Profile & Partnerships
Tennis Australia - Junior Commercial Analyst
Tennis Australia - Lead Experience Designer (UX/UI)
TGI Sport - Account Manager
TGI Sport - Event Producer
THE ICONIC - Planner - Sports
Trek Bicycle - APAC Retail Commercial Manager
Under Armour - Senior Professional, Visual Merchandising
Western Bulldogs - Business Development & Partnerships Manager
Western Bulldogs - Digital Marketing Manager
WNBL - Commercial Manager
WNBL - Marketing Manager
WNBL - Media & PR Manager
WNBL - Partnerships Manager
Not a subscriber yet? Discover specialised sports marketing insights, tailored for sports industry professionals within Australia and across the globe. If you work in sports for an agency, brand or rights-holder then this is for you.