Closing Bell

Investment firm William Blair has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire sports, media and entertainment-focused investment bank Inner Circle Sports. Inner Circle Sports will continue to operate with its same name for a period of time post-acquisition. Founded in 2002, Inner Circle Sports advises clients across the full lifecycle of sports, media and entertainment investments, including buy-side and sell-side M&A, limited partner transactions, capital raising, valuations, as well as debt financing. Winston & Strawn LLP served as legal advisor to William Blair. Solomon Partners served as financial advisor and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP acted as legal advisor to Inner Circle Sports (William Blair).

William Blair is “paying an undisclosed price” for Inner Circle. The move comes as William Blair looks to branch into the “booming sports M&A market” as professional sports teams have “fetched ever-higher valuations in recent years.” William Blair Global Head of Investment Banking Matt Zimmer said that the Chicago-based firm has made sports media and entertainment a “strategic priority” (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 5/5).

Inner Circle Sports earned SBJ Best Places to Work in Sports honors in 2024.

LIV Golf player Jon Rahm on Tuesday said that he and the DP World Tour had “come to an agreement.” That ends a “stalemate between the two sides that threatened Rahm’s Ryder Cup eligibility.” But Rahm’s status on the circuit is “no longer in question.” Rahm said that he and the DP World Tour “both made concessions to reach a deal.” The tour in statement said, “This involves payment of all outstanding fines accrued from 2024 to date, along with participation in agreed DP World Tour tournaments (outside the majors) in the remainder of the 2026 season” (GOLFWEEK, 5/5). LIV “settled the fines” Rahm accrued this year -- estimated at $3M -- and then he “even had to dig around in his own bottomless pockets for the sanctions he built up in 2026.” That “amounts to roughly $300,000″ (London TELEGRAPH, 5/5).

Rahm said that he has “multiple years left on his contract with LIV Golf and doesn’t see ‘many ways out,’” as the league attempts to find new financing with Saudi Arabia’s PIF pulling its funding after this season. Rahm: “Right now, I have several years in my contract left. I’m pretty sure they did a pretty good job when they drafted that, so I don’t see many ways out.” He added that LIV golfers “had been told that there would be PIF funding for ‘many years.’” Rahm: “Like everybody, [I was] surprised. Obviously, [it was] unexpected. We did hear the news that there would be funding for many years. But then as the future of the league goes, I think that’s obviously a question for the businesspeople.” LIV Golf player Tyrrell Hatton also said that he has “multiple years left” on his contract (ESPN.com, 5/5).

LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil on Tuesday “took questions from a LIV media official for 28 minutes inside the tennis building at Trump National Golf Club” outside D.C. O’Neil mentioned “sponsorships, ticket sales, television contracts and the league’s global footprint as reasons for optimism that it could secure funding.” The league plans to take its 13 franchises to market, and O’Neil said that those teams would be “offered to potential buyers with players in place.” O’Neil: “The way the process will typically work -- I may be getting ahead of myself -- is that we’re going to create a business plan, we’re going to lock arms with the players, we will go to market and raise money on a top level, and then we will get investors in teams in that order. The players on the team should be locked in” (AP, 5/5).

LIV Golf has “tapped law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher to advise it in an effort to turn around a loss-making business and find investors to fill the gap” left by PIF, according to sources cited by BLOOMBERG NEWS. The league has also retained investment bank Ducera Partners and is working with business advisory firm AlixPartners. Sources added that besides finding new investors or exploring a possible sale, the company “may look into cutting costs.” In response to questions about plans on cutting costs, a LIV spokesperson said that there are “no plans to make changes to the organization at this time” (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 5/5).

Golden Boy Promotions has signed up Range Sports Media Rights Advisory to help the boxing outfit on media rights for live events, including the creation of new tentpoles. Led by Range Sports co-head of media rights David Sternberg, the agency will also look to help monetize Golden Boy’s library of content, which has over 25,000 hours of fights, including those of founder Oscar De La Hoya. Range Studios will work on original non-scripted and scripted content development, production and distribution as well.

Golden Boy’s current stable of fighters includes Ryan Garcia, Vergil Ortiz, Oscar Collazo and Gabriela Fundora, among others. Range Sports Media Rights Advisory has also helped clients like MotoGP, LOVB and Shaun White’s Snow League. Golden Boy has an existing deal with DAZN, and last month, it was announced that DAZN and TNT Sports would partner on boxing starting this summer to help bolster the sport’s previously diminishing presence on linear TV in the U.S.

Boston Fleet coach Kris Sparre is “open” to the idea of the team moving their playoff games to TD Garden following the playoff exits of the Celtics and Bruins. A team spokesperson “wouldn’t reveal their plans” on whether Walter Cup Finals games could be moved to TD Garden. The Fleet, who play at Tsongas Center in Lowell, Mass., drew 4,500 for Game 1 and 6,017 for Game 2 against the Ottawa Charge, who will host both their playoff games at the Senators’ home, Canadian Tire Centre, rather than their usual venue of TD Place. The dates for the PWHL’s Walter Cup Finals “have not been set” (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/5).

The Univ. of Maine unveiled its plans for the Harold Alfond Athletics Village, a hub for all campus D-I athletic venues. The village, which is being developed with no tuition or taxpayer dollars, will also serve as a welcoming point to the school and UMaine Athletics. It will be constructed in phases as components of the Athletic Facilities Master Plan are finalized, with full completion expected by summer 2028. The investments in athletics infrastructure are funded privately. This is the latest announcement in the Athletics Facilities Master Plan, supported by the Harold Alfond Foundation’s $320M commitment to the Univ. of Maine System. Of that, $170M is dedicated to athletic facilities at UMaine (UMaine).

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