Sports & Health 2037
Athletes have never had more money, more reach, or more reason to own the industries they power. The world's fifty highest-paid athletes earned a record $3.88 billion in 2024 alone. A generation raised on Kevin Durant's and Serena Williams' venture funds is turning fame and locker-room access into ownership in the startups, teams, and health companies reshaping sport. This is a scenario: a concrete, falsifiable picture of how athlete capital and the sports-and-health economy compound between now and 2037, written to be argued with.
Athletes become investors, not just endorsers
For a century, athletes rented their names to brands and watched other people own the equity. That is ending. Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman's Thirty Five Ventures has backed more than 100 startups, with early stakes in Coinbase and Postmates; Serena Williams raised a $111 million debut fund and has backed 85+ companies. What was once a novelty is now a playbook: turn fame, network, and locker-room access into ownership.
The capital behind it is real and growing. Alex Rodriguez's A-Rod Corp runs 40+ portfolio companies and is reportedly raising a fund to buy stakes in pro teams; Andre Iguodala, Richard Sherman, and the late Kobe Bryant helped turn the athlete-to-VC path into a category of its own. Athletes Fund exists to make that path a fund, not a favor, pooling athlete capital and credibility into the companies and assets they are uniquely positioned to help win.
Sports technology compounds
The first place athlete capital compounds is technology. The global sports-technology market is estimated to grow from about $17 billion in 2024 to $55–62 billion by 2030, roughly a 22% compound annual growth rate, with smart venues the largest segment and analytics the fastest-growing. Wearables, performance analytics, fan engagement, and betting infrastructure are all scaling at once.
This is where an athlete-led fund has genuine edge, not just a logo. Athletes are the users, the testers, and the distribution for sports technology: a training-data startup, a recovery-wearable, or a fan platform reaches product-market fit faster when the people who define the sport are in the cap table. Better access, not just a bigger check, that is the advantage we intend to press.
The business of sport keeps expanding
Underneath the technology sits a large and growing business. The global sports market is estimated around $521 billion in 2026, spanning media rights (over $60 billion a year), sponsorship (forecast from ~$64 billion in 2024 to ~$145 billion by 2034), and a sports-betting market projected to nearly double to ~$187 billion by 2030.
The people running these businesses agree it keeps growing: in PwC's 2024 survey of 411 sports executives across 46 countries, leaders expected roughly 7.3% annual growth over the next three-to-five years, and 85% predicted double-digit growth in women's sports revenue. Women's sports, live experiences, and emerging leagues are where the next decade's sponsorship and media dollars concentrate, and where athlete-aligned capital is best placed to invest early.
Franchises prove out as an asset class
The clearest evidence that sports is a serious asset class is the price of the teams. The average NFL franchise is now worth roughly $5.9–6.5 billion, the average NBA team $5.51 billion, up 20% in a single year and 113% since 2022, and the average MLB club has climbed to about $3.17 billion. In 2025 the Boston Celtics sold for a record $6.1 billion.
And these are not just trophies. The Ross-Arctos Sports Franchise Index shows North American franchises compounding about 13% a year since 1961 and outperforming the S&P 500 over both 10- and 20-year windows, with lower leverage and volatility. Institutions noticed: nearly two-thirds of NBA teams entered the 2025–26 season with private-equity money, and the league now lets funds hold passive stakes of up to 20% in as many as eight teams. The illustrative chart below shows how we expect athlete-aligned and tech-enabled capital to keep taking share of sports and health private markets through 2037.
Sport and health finally converge
The last and largest pillar is health. US digital-health venture funding rebounded to $14.2 billion in 2025, its best year since 2022, with health AI taking 54% of the dollars; the global digital-health market is estimated to grow from ~$492 billion in 2026 to ~$2.35 trillion by 2034. Around it sits a $6.8 trillion global wellness economy, a record in 2024, forecast to reach $9.8 trillion by 2029.
Athletes are the original biohackers: recovery, nutrition, sleep, longevity, and sports medicine are their daily profession, and a sports-medicine market of roughly $6–7 billion is only the clinical tip of it. As performance health goes mainstream, the credibility of an elite athlete behind a longevity, recovery, or preventive-health company is worth more than any ad. This is the convergence Athletes Fund is built for: a $521 billion sport industry meeting a $6.8 trillion wellness economy, with athletes standing squarely in the middle.
Summary
Between 2027 and 2037, five public, observable forces (a rising class of athlete investors, compounding sports technology, an expanding sports business, franchises proving out as an asset class, and the convergence of sport with a multi-trillion-dollar health economy) reshape who owns the upside in sport and health. The open question is not whether athletes become owners, but how, and through what vehicle.
- 01
Athletes are becoming investors, not just endorsers: a record $3.88B earnings pool and proven athlete-VC playbooks (35V, Serena Ventures) are the raw material.
- 02
Sports technology is compounding at roughly 22% a year, and athletes are its users, testers, and distribution: differentiated access, not just capital.
- 03
The business of sport (a ~$521B market of media, sponsorship, and betting) keeps expanding, with women's sports and live attention leading the way.
- 04
Sports franchises have compounded ~13%/yr since 1961 and beaten the S&P 500, and institutional capital is pouring in, validating sports as a serious asset class.
- 05
Health is the largest prize of all: a $6.8T wellness economy and a digital-health market heading toward $2.35T, where athlete credibility is worth more than any ad.
- 06
Athletes Fund exists to turn athlete capital and credibility into ownership across all five, carefully, alongside the athletes themselves.
- 1.The world's 50 highest-paid athletes earned a combined record $3.88 billion in 2024, a fourth straight record year and up roughly 30% since 2021 (more than double a decade earlier). Forbes, 2024 ↗
- 2.Sources used throughout: Forbes and Sportico valuations, the Ross-Arctos Sports Franchise Index, PwC's Global Sports Survey, Rock Health, the Global Wellness Institute, Grand View Research, Fortune Business Insights, and Opendorse. Market-size figures from research firms are labeled 'estimated'; projections are labeled illustrative. Global Wellness Institute (methodology) ↗
- 3.In 2025 the Boston Celtics sold to a private-equity-led group for $6.1 billion, the largest sports-franchise sale in North American history, surpassing the $6.05 billion Washington Commanders sale (2023). Forbes, 2025 ↗
- 4.The Ross-Arctos Sports Franchise Index shows North American franchises compounding ~13%/yr since 1961 and outperforming the S&P 500 over 10- and 20-year windows (10-yr 15.3% vs 13.6%; 20-yr 12.8% vs 10.7%) with lower leverage and volatility. Sportico, 2025 ↗
- 5.US digital-health venture funding rebounded to $14.2 billion across 482 deals in 2025 (up ~35% YoY), the highest since 2022, with health AI taking 54% of the dollars (up from 37%). Rock Health, 2025 ↗
- 6.The global wellness economy hit a record $6.8 trillion in 2024 (+7.9% YoY) and is forecast to reach $9.8 trillion by 2029, with longevity and preventive wellness among the fastest-growing arms. Global Wellness Institute, 2025 ↗
- 7.The NIL (name, image, likeness) market is projected at $1.67 billion for 2024–25 (up ~43% YoY) and expected to exceed $2.5 billion once revenue-sharing begins in 2025–26. Opendorse, 2025 ↗
- 8.Grand View Research estimates the global sports-technology market at about $17 billion in 2024, growing to roughly $55–62 billion by 2030 (~22% CAGR), with smart venues the largest segment and analytics the fastest-growing. Estimate from a market-research firm. Grand View Research, 2024 ↗
- 9.The global sports market is estimated at roughly $495 billion in 2025 and about $521 billion in 2026 (~5.3% growth). Estimate from a market-research firm. The Business Research Company, 2026 ↗
- 10.Grand View Research estimates the global sports-betting market at about $100.9 billion in 2024, growing to ~$187.4 billion by 2030 (~11% CAGR); online is the fastest-growing segment. Grand View Research, 2025 ↗
- 11.Sportico valued the average NBA team at $5.51 billion in 2025, up 20% year over year and 113% since 2022, with the Golden State Warriors leading at $11.33 billion. Sportico, 2025 ↗
- 12.The global digital-health market is estimated to grow from roughly $491.6 billion in 2026 to about $2.35 trillion by 2034 (~21.6% CAGR). Estimate from a market-research firm. Fortune Business Insights, 2026 ↗
- 13.The global sports-sponsorship market is estimated to grow from about $64.1 billion in 2024 to $144.9 billion by 2034 (~8.5% CAGR). Estimate from a market-research firm. Market.us, 2024 ↗
- 14.Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman's Thirty Five Ventures (35V), founded in 2017, has backed 100+ early-stage companies, with early stakes in Coinbase and Postmates. CB Insights ↗
- 15.Serena Williams' Serena Ventures raised a $111 million debut institutional fund in 2022 and has backed 85+ startups, including MasterClass and Impossible Foods. Bloomberg, 2022 ↗
- 16.Alex Rodriguez's A-Rod Corp is an investment firm with 40+ portfolio companies across tech, health/wellness, real estate and sports, and has been reported to be raising a fund to take stakes in pro sports teams. Entrepreneur, 2024 ↗
- 17.Profiles of Andre Iguodala, Richard Sherman, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant document athletes systematically moving into venture capital and private markets, the athlete-to-VC 'category'. CNBC, 2020 ↗
- 18.PwC's 8th Global Sports Survey (2024) polled 411 executives across 46 countries: leaders expected ~7.3% annual market growth over the next 3–5 years, and 85% predicted double-digit growth in women's sports revenue. PwC Global Sports Survey, 2024 ↗
- 19.The average NFL franchise was valued at roughly $5.9 billion (Sportico) to $6.49 billion (CNBC) in 2024, with the Dallas Cowboys the first team valued around $10 billion. Sportico, 2024 ↗
- 20.Sportico's MLB valuations rose from an average of $2.64 billion in 2024 to about $3.17 billion by 2026, with the New York Yankees No. 1 at $9.4 billion. Sportico, 2024/2026 ↗
- 21.Nearly two-thirds of NBA teams entered 2025–26 with private-equity money; the league permits institutional funds to hold passive minority stakes up to 20% and, as of Dec. 2025, in up to 8 teams (raised from 5). Front Office Sports ↗
- 22.Illustrative forecast. We extrapolate the documented rise of athlete-led funds, PE entry into franchises, and sports-tech/digital-health growth into a directional projection of how athlete-aligned and tech-enabled capital takes share of sports & health private markets. It is not a measured statistic or an Athletes Fund figure. Illustrative: extrapolated from cited trend data ↗
- 23.Estimates of the global sports-medicine market cluster around $6–7 billion for 2024 with a ~7–9% CAGR across research firms (no single primary body). Precedence Research ↗