The MoonPay X Games League completed its inaugural Summer Season championship in late July. It was also the first with team owners, including UNA Sports Group, in attendance.

The alternative sports property sold multiple franchises to outside investors in 2025, though those deals weren’t publicly announced at the time. UNA was the first team buyer to be made public. It acquired the league’s New York summer and winter franchises for $10 million each.

“When we looked at where other similar leagues are in terms of their valuations, and then we look at what we [had] to pay for [these teams, the decision] was almost immediate. This [investment should have] a three, four, five-x return [on it] in a very short period of time,” David Rader (President and COO, UNA Sports Group) said.

Rader’s confidence rests in a structure that leaves league-level costs off team owners’ books, while giving franchises a claim to sponsorship revenue. XGL also has some early momentum. The league secured roughly $60 million in sponsorship commitments before its debut, anchored by a naming-rights deal with MoonPay and a founding partnership pact with Monster Energy.

UNA is a newly formed investment firm led by Rader (fmr. sports advisory leader, Strategy&), Andrew Thau (fmr. COO, United Talent Agency), and Del Wright (fmr. COO, Silver Swan Capital). The group raises capital on a deal-by-deal basis from high-net-worth individuals and family offices rather than operating as a traditional fund.

UNA has done a handful of deals in sports to date, including its purchase of a limited partner stake in a big four franchise. XGL marks its first controlling investment.

The league’s ~$10 million per team asking price is modest compared to other recently launched leagues (see: SailGP and PWHL franchises valued at $50 million). There is also precedent for meaningful appreciation from that entry point.

Rader cited TGL, whose TV audiences and broadcast hours closely resemble what XGL expects to produce, as a benchmark. TGL franchises that sold for ~$35 million in 2023 are now worth roughly three times that amount.

“We aren’t promising owners a specific return or payback period,” Jeremy Bloom (CEO, XGL) said. However, “the opportunity comes from a combination of team-level revenue, league economics and the long-term value of owning one of a limited number of XGL teams…. [Remember], we’re building a new team model around a brand that already has more than 30 years of history [too].”

Other investors see the same potential as Rader. Days after UNA’s purchase, Allen Thorpe (a Hellman & Friedman veteran and past F1 investor) bought the Los Angeles summer and Park City, Utah winter teams. Both will join in 2027.

UAE-based Summit Ventures subsequently claimed XGL’s São Paulo summer club in June. And then its San Francisco/Lake Tahoe summer and winter teams were sold to a group led by Jonathan Turner (Director, Accel; board Tottenham Hotspur) in August. 

That leaves Tokyo and a yet-to-be-named winter team as the last league owned teams. At least for now.

So where does UNA expect a 3x–5x return to come from?

Its investment thesis is not built solely around rising franchise valuations.

“This league is going to be unique because it’s going to be profitable very, very quickly,” Rader said. “Because of the financial model the league has put in place, we’re going to be able to have positive cash flow, potentially return money to investors, and even justify a valuation based on EBITDA rather than revenue.”

XGL parent company Sports Content Creation (the vehicle MSP created to buy the majority of X Games in 2022) covers all league-level operating and event costs. In exchange, SCC is entitled to a royalty on league revenues. The remainder is distributed to franchise owners in the form of prize money and dividends. Teams are responsible for signing and paying their own athletes.

The league has also shown encouraging early commercial momentum. In addition to MoonPay and Monster, its current sponsor roster includes Sonic, Rivian, Activision, Skullcandy, the U.S. Army and Stake. 

Aspen Snowmass re-upped as a venue host for three more years too.

Audience demographics have been XGL’s biggest selling point to sponsors. Roughly 60% of X Games fans are between the ages of 18-34, two in five rank amongst the highest earners in their home countries and league survey data suggests women represent 43% of its following.

The athletes participating further extend the league’s value proposition. Nine of UNA’s ten New York team members are Olympians. The roster has ~12 million social followers combined.

Those buying franchises early will share in distributions from the sale of future expansion teams, providing another source of return. XGL eventually expects to have ten teams in each seasonal league.

That’s not to say buying an XGL franchise is without risk.

Team-level revenue is expected to be heavily concentrated in a single category. Rader suggested that sponsorships will account for 70–80% of controllable team income, with merchandise sales and small events contributing roughly 10%. The balance is expected to come from the league’s profit-sharing distributions. 

If sponsorship sales stall, there is little else to carry the P&L.

The league also generated minimal gate revenue in year one and remains without a long-term media rights agreement. Sponsorship-first franchise models remain unproven at scale in action sports. And the 3x–5x returns projected are based on comparisons to leagues whose valuations have yet to be validated through exits.

Ultimately, UNA is underwriting MSP’s ability to turn around a 30-year brand synonymous with action sports, but one in decline, at least ratings wise, when it bought a majority stake in 2022.

“When people talk about skateboarding and snowboarding and BMX, they’re talking about the X Games,” Rader said. “It’s the same way that if you were to say, what is mixed martial arts? You’d say, well, it’s what UFC is.”

The bet is that recognition, paired with an attractive entry point and favorable business economics, is enough to make the two X Games franchises in New York profitable well before most sports investments pay off.

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