SBJ: NFL revs up a venture fund to invest in football-related technology

Submitted by Randy Burgess on Mon, 2011-10-17 10:23

Sports Business Journal reports that "The NFL is planning to form a more than $32 million venture capital fund to invest in startup media, technology and entertainment businesses that tie into football."

“We are in conversations with venture capital firms,” said Robert Kraft, the New England Patriots owner . . . “We can drive new technologies and hopefully invest in our fans.”

The NFL is looking at what might be called “angel investing”: getting in at the ground floor of companies as they launch.

The source link has the full text of the article, but this is Sports Business Journal, so most of the content is behind a paywall.

Our Take:

This is pretty interesting stuff. We all know that fantasy sports does bring significant value to the NFL because of the intense data and media consumption by fantasy sports team owners. Thus, fantasy sports startups could benefit from some NFL investment going forward with a system like this in place. Somebody needs to invite the NFL to watch the FSTA Elevator Pitch session this January, I'd say.

Source:

NFL plans to start venture capital fund (Subscription Required)
Sports Business Journal
Daniel Kaplan, Staff Writer
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2011/10/17/Leagues-and...