Private Credit Meets Prime Time: Sports, Media, and Entertainment

The sports, media, and entertainment industries offer long-term asset-backed cash flows that can be structured, securitized, and monetized. Media rights contracts, royalties, and sponsorship agreements generate revenue streams as predictable as infrastructure projects, yet with significantly higher growth potential. While sports, media, and entertainment assets may be intangible or hard to value, boxing out traditional lending, the underlying credit remains rock-solid. Private credit firms have recognized this opportunity and taken over professional sports financing in recent years. In the years to come, these firms will build on their success in professional sports and continue to grow as they deploy similar capital solutions across adjacent sports, media, and entertainment verticals.

Professional sports franchises generate niche revenue streams through multi-year media rights contracts, sponsorship agreements, and venue-related income streams. These income streams have a unique stability that is uncorrelated to broader markets, and their track record speaks for itself. For more than 25 years and throughout macro shocks including 9/11, the 2008 financial crisis, and the Covid pandemic, major league sports revenues have remained stable.² The secret lies in how the deals behind the revenues are structured. Much of the revenue behind sports teams can be broken into highly contractual income streams like media deals, stadium leasing, naming rights, sponsorships, and personal seat licenses. Since many of these revenues are backed by long-term contracts, they are not exposed to short-term economic swings and are non-cyclical. Further, when these contracts are up for renewal, they offer a valuable scarcity that cannot be found in many places.

Big Tech Capital Expenditures, Quarterly

Source: The Stadiums Guide. September 2023. “Crypto.com Arena Guide”

Live sports content has become increasingly valuable because it cannot be replicated or time shifted. In the era of on-demand entertainment with hundreds of streaming services, sports remain appointment viewing. As such, broadcasters and streaming platforms compete aggressively for rights, driving up contract values and ensuring demand stays robust. Through unique scarcity, sports related income streams and assets have continued to appreciate.

Total Returns: Select Leagues and S&P 500

Source: PitchBook. 2025. "Pro sports attract private credit attention as valuations soar”

Traditional corporate lending relies on tangible assets such as factories, inventory, and accounts receivable. sports, media, and entertainment financing instead uses contractual commitments and intellectual property as collateral. The result is a form of asset-based finance that has become the dominant funding mechanism for professional sports.³

Different deal structures leverage different revenue streams. Stadium financings typically secure debt with naming rights, premium seating, food and beverage concessions, and sponsorships.⁴ These financings often see more than half their projected cash flows coming from multi-year contracted sources rather than variable game-day ticket sales. League-wide media rights facilities pool broadcast revenues across all teams, spreading risk while providing access to some of the most valuable content in entertainment. Team-level media rights deals structure multi-year broadcasting agreements to avoid team-specific cyclicality.

Credit ratings for sports transactions typically land in the A to BBB range, comparable to investment-grade corporate debt but backed by entirely different collateral.⁵ Maturities stretch from 2 years for short-term media rights deals to 35 years for major stadium projects, with contracted revenues making these revenues resilient. A 10-year stadium naming rights agreement pays the same amount regardless of whether the economy is booming or in recession, providing an uncorrelated risk-profile traditional corporate cash flows cannot match.

When lockdowns shut down live events in 2020, major franchises suddenly needed liquidity that traditional bank debt could not provide. This pressure convinced leagues to relax long-standing restrictions on institutional capital, opening the door for private credit to step in for different kinds of financings such as acquisitions or short-term liquidity needs. Simultaneously, these financings benefitted from exploding franchise valuations and rising credit profiles driven by sports gambling legalization, intensifying media rights bidding wars, and recognition that live sports content holds unique value in an increasingly digital world.⁶ Professional sports has seen an explosion of private credit, and similar opportunities extend into many other sports, media, and entertainment verticals.

Headlines focus on marquee franchise sales and superstar contracts, but the future opportunity for private credit extends beyond professional leagues. The broader sports, media, and entertainment ecosystem generates hundreds of billions in annual revenue across segments that have historically lacked access to creative capital solutions.⁷ Youth sports organizations need capital to build facilities and expand programs. Equipment manufacturers require working capital and growth financing. Media companies developing streaming platforms need content financing. Adjacent businesses from sports technology to sports betting operations need growth capital that understands the sector's unique dynamics. Private credit is extending beyond professional sports to deploy flexible capital across the entire sports, media, and entertainment ecosystem in ways traditional lenders cannot and is getting paid for it.⁸

Private credit pays more than bank debt as the higher price reflects the added value of the partnership. Private lenders take longer-term views and are more willing to inject additional capital when opportunities arise or challenges emerge. For borrowers planning major initiatives, the partnership approach justifies the incremental cost.⁹ For private credit lenders and investors, their additional efforts are rewarded.

Private Asset-Backed Credit Offers Attractive Risk-Adjusted Returns

Source: Voya. May 2025. "Private Credit Insights: Play Ball!"

Private credit is driving enormous asset-backed financing growth in sports, media, and entertainment. These sectors offer predictable cash flows comparable to infrastructure investments and unique collateral that benefits from a scarcity factor. The intangible assets backing these financings such as long-term contracts, intellectual property assets, and diverse revenue streams create attractive lending opportunities distinct from traditional corporate credit. After finding major success in professional sports that was accelerated during Covid, private credit is expanding into adjacent opportunities with amateur sports, equipment manufacturers, media companies, and entertainment venues. Private credit sports financings pay a premium vs traditional solutions, and so will the new entertainment endeavors. As capital starved sports, media, and entertainment industries look for flexibility and willingness to structure bespoke solutions, private credit will build on their success in professional sports and continue to grow rapidly.

Sources:

1. The Streamable. June 2025. “How many subscribers do top streamers have?”
2. Voya. May 2025. "Private Credit Insights: Play Ball!"
3. Voya. May 2025. "Private Credit Insights: Play Ball!"
4. Voya. May 2025. "Private Credit Insights: Play Ball!"
5. Voya. May 2025. "Private Credit Insights: Play Ball!"
6. PitchBook. August 2025. "Pro sports attract private credit attention as valuations soar”
7. Akin Gump. 2025. "The Ascent of Private Credit in Sports: An Era of New Opportunities
8. PitchBook. August 2025. "Pro sports attract private credit attention as valuations soar”
9. Akin Gump. 2025. "The Ascent of Private Credit in Sports: An Era of New Opportunities