#SportsInvestment: “Don’t do anything in your first season.”
- Romy Kraus
- Jun 25
- 5 min read
#Blitzed: How David Blitzer Is Betting on the Future of Sports
From Blackstone to the Sixers to a table tennis league near you—David Blitzer’s playbook is all about spotting mega-trends early and scaling them with surgical precision.
He started in private equity when shoulder pads were in and cable ruled content. Now, David Blitzer’s got stakes in almost every major league—from the NBA to the EPL—and is moving just as aggressively into women’s sports, youth programs, and fringe formats most investors wouldn’t touch. But here’s the twist: Blitzer’s not in it for vanity or viral wins. His thesis is simple—supply is fixed, demand is surging, and content is king.
So what happens when the guy who helped shape modern finance applies that same vision to sports? You get a new kind of empire—built on IP, AI, and thousands of under-13 athletes in perfectly-groomed facilities wearing Cal Ripken logos.
The Lowdown
First rule of buying a team: Do nothing in Year 1. Just learn.
Sports franchises = community businesses, not just investments.
Supply of major league teams is fixed. Demand? Not even close.
AI will redefine scouting and fan targeting, but it’s still early days.
Youth sports is a $40B sector with no real infrastructure—Blitzer wants to fix that.
Women’s leagues are underpriced, under-marketed, and poised to explode.
Storytelling and fan intimacy are the next big unlock—forget full-game broadcasts.
Ownership Philosophy: Learn First, Act Later
“You’re not buying a business. You’re inheriting a city.”
Owning a sports team isn’t like owning a mattress company. That was Blitzer’s biggest realization after acquiring the Philadelphia 76ers in 2011. Sure, the transaction looked like a textbook corporate carveout from Comcast, but emotionally and culturally—it was a civic trust.
And that’s where most first-time owners blow it. They want headlines, splashy trades, flashy logos. Blitzer’s No. 1 advice? Do nothing the first season. Walk the halls. Watch practices. Understand what you don’t know.
“Don’t just jump in and wanna make a splash. This isn’t fantasy sports.” – David Blitzer
Supply & Demand: Scarcity Drives Everything
“Supply is fixed. Demand is rising. That’s the whole game.”
At the core of Blitzer’s thesis is Econ 101: supply and demand. There are only so many major-league franchises—and they're not minting more. Meanwhile, the number of billionaires worldwide has quintupled in 20 years. Add in institutional money (Blitzer’s old world), and you’ve got rising pressure on a fixed asset pool.
Why does that matter? Because franchises double as media IP goldmines. In a world where everything’s on demand, live sports is the only content people still schedule their lives around.
“These are content and media businesses. That’s what makes them so valuable.” – David Blitzer
AI & Data: Still Early, But It’s Coming Fast
“AI can scout, sell, and personalize—if your data doesn’t suck.”
Blitzer’s not pretending to be a machine-learning savant. His play is to build the scaffolding—recruit data scientists, unify systems, and invest across enough teams to amortize innovation at scale.
AI is already testing useful stuff:
Automating scouting film tags (pick-and-rolls, player touches)
Personalized fan experiences based on purchase + location data
More efficient coding, faster analysis, less human bottlenecks
But the real bottleneck isn’t the AI. It’s the data quality.
“All these tools mean nothing without good underlying data.” – David Blitzer
Each sport brings its own challenge: baseball has pristine, single-event data; hockey and soccer lag behind with motion-based chaos. NBA arenas adopted cameras early, which gave them a data head start. But if the league doesn’t have 10+ years of high-res data? AI can’t do much.
Fan Personalization: Beyond the Stadium
“We don’t know our fans as well as we think.”
Teams might know your seat number and beer order. But Blitzer’s vision is deeper:
Knowing your commute home to push the right offer
Sending you custom Tyrese Maxey gear based on fan data
Triggering live event invites based on your spend level
It’s Netflix-meets-Sixers—and that’s where AI really hits.
“You’re gonna be getting offers from your team… personalized to that one individual.” – David Blitzer
Baseball's Next Chapter: Entertainment Over Tradition
“Baseball has to stop hiding its best content in a vault.”
Blitzer’s bullish on MLB—but knows it’s behind. The pitch clock and shift ban worked: game time dropped 24 minutes, viewer age dropped ~5 years, and participation is up ~7% annually. But the bigger unlock? Turning practice into content.
Let fans watch batting cage work. Mic up pitchers. Livestream warmups. Show Shohei Ohtani in gym shorts. That’s what Gen Z wants. Not a 9-inning game.
“Think entertainment first. Baseball’s just your moat.” – Alex Rodriguez
“If content is king, baseball should be king. 200+ games a year!” – David Blitzer
Youth Sports: $40B Fragmented Giant
“Women’s sports is undervalued IP.”
Blitzer sees women's leagues as one of the biggest arbitrage opportunities in sports. NCAA women’s hoops is already outdrawing the men in major events. The WNBA has 30% of NBA viewership—but just 2% of media rights money.
That’s starting to shift with better storytelling (hello Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese), better coverage, and a new wave of execs who aren’t stuck in the 1950s.
“These athletes have always been amazing. They just weren’t marketed properly.” – David Blitzer
“That’s an arbitrage—viewership value is up, but media rights are still cheap.” – David Blitzer
Youth Sports: $40B Fragmented Giant
“Youth sports is the $40B industry no one’s organized.”
Here’s the big one. Youth sports is massive, but splintered. Mom-and-pop operators run most programs—great mission, bad margins. Blitzer wants to scale it like a business, while preserving the soul.
His solution?
Consolidate operations under powerful brands (like Ripken Baseball)
Build sports vacation camps where families come for 3–7 days
Add better coaching, fields, safety, data
It’s both impact and income. Plus, he’s on a mission to stop the U13 drop-off, when most kids quit unless they’re chasing scholarships.
“Too much specialization. Kids should play everything longer.” – David Blitzer
“We’re making it easier for good people to focus on helping kids—without worrying about accounts payable.” – David Blitzer
Early Trendspotting: The Long Game
“Find the trend. Get in early. Ride the wave.”
From digital infrastructure to women’s soccer to slap fighting, Blitzer’s investment radar is always scanning for underpriced attention. He’s not guessing—he’s pattern-matching. And if a league has sticky content and a rising fan base, he’s listening.
It worked with Formula 1 (Drive to Survive), chess (Queen’s Gambit), and golf (TGL). Why wouldn’t it work with volleyball or table tennis?
“Content + storytelling changes everything. That’s how you build fandom.” – David Blitzer
“We all underestimate the audience numbers for niche sports.” – David Blitzer
What’s Next
Biggest bet today? Youth and women’s leagues
Hype song before a deal? “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley
Sport he’d watch forever—if forced to choose? Hockey (live only)
Fun fact? Closet Alanis Morissette superfan
Biggest regret avoided? Ignoring advice not to invest in hockey
