2025 Sohn Montreal: Investing in “The Game”

At the 2025 Sohn Montreal Conference, David O’Connor, Managing Partner at Arctos Partners, Marc Lasry, Chairman and CEO of Avenue Capital Group, and Nicole Musicco, a private equity CIO, examined the rise of sports as a standalone asset class. The panel explored how globalization, data, and institutional capital are reshaping franchise ownership, governance, and monetization, unlocking long-term value in one of the world’s most emotionally resilient industries.

David J. O'Connor

• Background: O'Connor co-founded and serves as managing partner at Arctos Partners. He also heads up value creation, sourcing, executing, and managing investments for the firm's sports strategy. O'Connor previously served as president and CEO of the Madison Square Garden Company, over seeing all aspects of sports business operations.
• Firm Focus: Arctos Partners is a private investment firm specializing in the professional sports sector, working closely with sports franchises and their ownership groups.
• Time at Firm: David J. O'Connor has been with Arctos Partners since October 2019.

Marc Lasry

• Background: Widely known as a credit investing pioneer over his more than 40-year career, Lasry serves as chairman, CEO and co-founder of Avenue Capital Group. He previously co-owned the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks, overseeing the team through an era of success. The Bucks had the worst record in the NBA when Lasry bought the team in 2014, and they won their first NBA championship in five decades in 2021. Lasry currently serves as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is on the board of advisors of Columbia University's Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.
• Firm Focus: Avenue Capital Group primarily focuses on specialty lending, opportunistic credit, and special situations investments across the United States, Europe, and Asia.
• Time at Firm: As a co-founder, he has been with Avenue Capital Group since its inception in 1995.

Nicole Musicco

• Background: Musicco was most recently CIO at the $500 billion U.S. pension plan CalPERS. Before that, she was at RedBird Capital Partners, which primarily focuses on scaling high-growth companies, particularly, in Sports, Media, Leisure and Entertainment. She also spent over 16 years at Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan.

2025 Sohn Montreal Conference - David J. O'Connor, Marc Lasry and Nicole Musicco

Q: What macro trends have transformed the sports investment landscape over the past decade?

David J. O'Connor:

• Institutional capital has long been present in sports, but in the past five years, North American leagues began allowing direct equity investment in franchises.
• This change has brought attention to the financial strength of the sports ecosystem: passionate fanbases, the most valuable live media content, and massive, recurring, long-dated revenue streams.
• The assets were local assets (local media, fan base, live events), now its globalized, global superstars that are celebrities worldwide, teams and leagues are now marketing and travelling internationally, we have this globalization that creates new addressable markets and creates revenue on an exponential level.
• The industry offers low volatility, low leverage, and low correlation with other asset classes ; making it highly attractive to investors.
• Two key macro trends are driving the transformation:
  1. Globalization: Sports assets used to be local (local fans, local media), but now they operate on a global scale ; global media distribution, international travel and marketing, and global celebrity athletes.
  2. Data and Technology: Teams now know exactly who their fans are, how they engage, and what they buy, allowing more efficient monetization and stronger fan relationships.

Marc Lasry:

• Confirmed the shift from local to global, sharing a personal anecdote of being recognized abroad for owning the Milwaukee Bucks.
• The global recognition of teams like PSG and others shows the reach of sports assets today.
• The true power of sports lies in the loyalty of fans ; people support their teams win or lose, unlike most consumer products.
• Revenue in sports grows consistently through ticket sales, sponsorships, and media rights because sports are watched live.