Field Notes: 4 People Moves, 3 Announcements, 2 Things Worth Your Time, and 1 Stat That Matters in the Sports Economy.
Curated and delivered every other Wednesday.
4 People Moves
James Rushton: After 11 years in executive roles at DAZN, Rushton takes the helm at Bruin Capital-backed TGI Sport. TGI has quietly transformed from a traditional rights agency into a tech-focused operation—LED perimeter ads, virtual advertising, broadcast solutions. Rushton’s streaming background suggests the next phase is scaling that tech globally.
Max Crowley: After just two months leading partnerships at Polymarket, Crowley crossed enemy lines to rival Kalshi, the other half of the prediction‑markets duopoly. This is some high‑profile poaching: Crowley was early Uber employee (#25) and a founder who sold his startup to GoPuff. The move adds muscle to Kalshi as the two horse race rages on.
Jason Podolsky: Seven years at Bruin Capital to one of the most audience‑rich content brands in the world. With Dude Perfect evolving from five creators to a lifestyle IP platform, bringing in a serious finance operator signals a coming phase of acquisitions and brand consolidation. I sat down with Highmount Capital’s Jason Illian last week—Dude Perfect’s lead investor—and his vision for where DP is headed is worth the listen.
Dario Zarrabian: Two years in strategy at MLB, a Stanford MBA, and now the inner circle of Michael Rubin. Fanatics has been “about to IPO” for quite a while now, but the rumors are heating up again—and either way, it’s a front-row seat at one of the most consequential companies in sports.
People moves data via Workforce.ai by Live Data Technologies
3 Announcements
Utah is spinning out a for-profit entity called Utah Sports & Entertainment with Otro Capital—the first deal of its kind. The financials tell the story: football made $26.8M, men’s basketball added $2.6M, and the other 17 programs lost $21.2M combined. The hope is that Otro’s capital and expertise is a rising tide that lifts all boats. If not, expect hard conversations about which programs are sustainable. Feels like the floodgates are about to open.
The nerds have entered the skybox. Bret Taylor — Google Maps co-creator, former Salesforce Co-CEO, Twitter Chairman during the Musk takeover, OpenAI Chairman, decacorn founder — is joining the 49ers ownership group. The cap table already reads like a Bay Area VC all-star team with leaders from Bessemer (Byron Deeter), Iconiq (Will Griffith), and Khosla (Vinod Khosla) involved. The deal values the franchise at $9 billion, making it the fourth most valuable in the NFL behind the Cowboys, Rams, and Giants.
PlayMetrics Sells Student Sports to Elysian Park Ventures, Sharpens Focus on Operations Platform | Youth Sports Business Report
Student Sports owns legacy properties like Elite 11, The Opening, and Area Code Baseball. While past their prime, these were the stars of elite high school athletics not long ago (was anything more legit than seeing on Twitter that some prospect #GotOpen circa ~2014?). The Overtime playbook—media-first distribution, talent pipeline ownership, NIL infrastructure—offers a template for revival. The assets still have brand equity; the question is whether Elysian can modernize the model or if these properties got left behind when recruiting went direct-to-consumer.
2 Things Worth Your Time
Kyle and Drew Talk Private Equity’s Future in College Sports and the Vision Behind Add More Athletes | Momentous Sports Podcast
Recent Under the Number guest Kyle Israel (Managing Partner, Momentous Sports) sits down with Drew Weatherford, co-founder of Weatherford Capital and former FSU QB. Last year, Weatherford partnered with RedBird to launch Collegiate Athletic Solutions—so yes, he’s talking his book here. But he does an excellent job articulating why PE is flooding into college athletics right now. Particularly worth hearing: his take on the future of elite training academies (Weatherford co-invested with EQT on the 2023 IMG Academy deal).
The smart money in sport isn’t just chasing clubs anymore, it’s chasing the infrastructure they depend on. Bruin showed how value can be hidden in the plumbing. The next winners will run the rails under the whole industry.
1 Stat That Matters
13 out of 20 - The number of quarterbacks from 2023 Elite 11 who are either heading into the portal or have already transferred. (Bruce Feldman)
As my recent guest Seth Wickersham explained, “A lot of NFL people are asking, ‘Has this guy really been through some sh*t? How did he deal with it?’ Because it’s never been easier to avoid dealing with the sh*t.”
Pull of the Week
Louisville Head Coach (and potential candidate for the Michigan job) Jeff Brohm shares his perspective on the importance of pain tolerance:
ICYMI: Last week’s episode with Jason Illian, Co-Founder & General Partner of Highmount Capital ⬇️
Shoutout to Austin Kretzschmar—a fellow Stanford alum here in Dallas—for helping out with this week’s edition.
I’ll be publishing Field Notes every other Wednesday.
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If you’re building, investing, or advising within this ecosystem — please reach out!
Email: [email protected].
– Brent
