Tsai Partner: Why Sports Teams Are an Asset Class

TL;DR: Yahoo Finance reported that Weisberg and Tsai first saw the Nets as a bet on the NBA's "limited" supply of teams and on growing media rights. Weisberg says the thesis has paid off. That is the owner talking. The numbers behind the claim, and the places where they don't line up with each other, are what an investor should read first.

What did Tsai's partner actually say?

Weisberg described the original reasoning as riding media-rights growth. "We believed that we would ride along with the growth of media rights, which primarily, five, 10, 15 years ago were in cable," he said, per Yahoo Finance. He also said buying 49% first "allowed us to wade in as a minority shareholder" before taking control.

His conclusion is a sales line as much as an analysis: "It is an asset class that has arrived." The person saying it owns the asset, so read it as an owner's view. The prices below are the evidence.

How much has the Nets franchise been worth?

The franchise value has more than doubled, according to Yahoo Finance's reporting of Sportico estimates. It went from $3.3 billion in 2019 to an estimated $7.4 billion this year. Yahoo also reports that the Liberty is now valued at more than $600 million, against an estimated $14 million the Tsais paid James Dolan in 2019.

Transaction prices tell a slightly different story, because the deals bundled different assets.

Date	Event	Reported price	Source
2018	Tsai buys 49% of the Nets	$1 billion	ESPN
2019	Tsai buys the remaining 51%	$1.35 billion, plus nearly $1 billion for Barclays Center	ESPN
2019	Combined Nets and arena	About $3.4 billion	The Associated Press
2024	Minority stake in Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment sold to Julia Koch and family	$688 million	Yahoo Finance

The table shows why the $3.3 billion Sportico estimate and the roughly $3.4 billion AP figure should not be compared directly, because one is a franchise estimate and the other includes the arena. The dates need care too. Yahoo Finance says Tsai bought his 49% in 2017, while ESPN puts the purchase in 2018. The sources do not reconcile the gap.

What is the "bigger business" behind the Nets?

The team is one piece of a holding company. Yahoo describes Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment as the parent of the Nets, the Liberty and Barclays Center. That is why the Koch stake matters more than a team sale would. The buyer got a piece of a team, a women's franchise and an arena in one entity.

The company is also spending. Yahoo reports the Nets and Barclays Center are investing more than $150 million in renovations over five years, part of it financed with the $688 million the Kochs paid. The latest phase includes a redesigned atrium and a 9,000-square-foot event-level club. Money from a minority sale is going back into the building, which is a different thing from a payout to the sellers.

What does this mean for an accredited investor?

It shows what a minority position looks like at the top of the market, and what it doesn't give you. Tsai himself is blunt about it. In Sportico, he said, "It was a process that taught me being a minority shareholder in a team is not a lot of fun."

An individual investor will not be writing a $688 million check. Access usually comes through funds or pooled vehicles, which add their own fees and lockups. Our plain-English guide to sports team ownership funds covers that layer, and the piece on league caps on private equity ownership explains who is allowed in at all.

Common mistakes

The first is treating an estimate as a price. Sportico's $7.4 billion is a valuation model, and nobody has paid it for the whole company. The second is reading a headline price as a return. The sources here give purchase prices and estimated values, but nothing on cash yield or what any holder could sell for today. The third is borrowing the owner's confidence. Weisberg's view is informative. It is also self-interested.

A fourth mistake is assuming scarcity guarantees appreciation. Limited supply supports prices, but it does not promise they keep rising, and every figure here is backward-looking. If you want a comparison with a different collectible-style asset, see our look at art as an asset class.

FAQ

Who is Ollie Weisberg? He is Joe Tsai's longtime investment partner. Yahoo Finance reports the two bought into the Nets together and saw value in the NBA's limited supply of teams and growing media rights.

How much did the Kochs pay for their Nets stake? Julia Koch and her family paid $688 million in 2024 for a minority stake in Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, the parent of the Nets, Liberty and Barclays Center, per Yahoo Finance.

What is the Nets franchise worth now? Sportico estimates $7.4 billion this year, up from $3.3 billion in 2019, as reported by Yahoo Finance. It is an estimate, not a sale price.

Can an individual investor buy a piece of an NBA team? The sources here do not say. Direct stakes of this kind involve large checks and league approval. Funds that hold team stakes exist, and they carry their own fees and liquidity limits.

What to do next

Before you consider any vehicle that holds a team stake, ask for its fee schedule and its exit terms in writing, then compare them with the lockup you would be accepting.

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