Champion Fund, a new private equity-like vehicle founded by New Orleans Saints alum Marques Colston and former MMA fighter Nick Edwards, quietly began taking investments last month. The fund offers diversified access to a portfolio of privately held sports-related entities, including ownership stakes in Ipswich Town FC, Fathead, and Emerging Fund; which holds stakes in F1 Arcade, BatBox, and Pool House among other companies.

The existence of another vehicle offering exposure to sports assets is not, on its own, especially newsworthy. There are at least two dozen sports-focused private equity funds (plus all the venture capital funds).

What’s unique about Champion Fund is that it’s the first to offer diversified private market access to unaccredited retail investors. The proverbial mom-and-pop investor can buy into the fund for as little as $500, or $5,000 if through a retirement account.

Previously, only the superrich (think: Rob Walton), institutional investors (think: Arctos, Ares), and accredited investors investing through sports funds, like CAZ Investments, had access to these types of opportunities.

Colston and Edwards came up with the idea after realizing there is an increasingly large number of athletes without the wealth ($1 million or more excluding primary residence) or annual income ($200K+) necessary to be deemed accredited. The pair has been managing funds for accredited investors.

They have less than $50 million assets under management, but that total is said to be growing.

“The sports asset class is still in its infancy. One of the pieces that will break it open is [providing] access to the masses,” Colston said. “The ability to take fandom and convert it into ownership just opens up an entirely new investor base.”

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Retail investors present a potentially massive market for sports teams and related businesses to tap into for capital. They collectively hold ~$55 trillion in assets, including the money saved in retirement accounts.  

While that sum is smaller than the pool accredited (~$80 trillion) and institutional (~$130 trillion) investors control globally, it’s still a huge number capable of driving asset values higher.

Remember, retail investors invest a higher percentage of their assets in equities (think: ~75%) than the other two groups do. For context, Natixis’ 2025 Institutional Outlook put the average institutional portfolio allocation at just 37% equities.

Champion Fund is the first fund trying to tap into the under accessed investor cohort.

Right now, investors must sign up to participate through the fund’s website. The expectation is that it will become more widely available (think: via major retail brokers like Charles Schwab and Fidelity Investments) as assets under management rise.

However, Champion Fund is unlikely to be the last aimed at retail investors.

Ares Management has publicly suggested it plans to get sports investments into the segment’s hands. And another brand-name private equity firm is understood to be targeting tens of billions of dollars from unaccredited investors.

Champion Fund is structured as an interval fund, an increasingly popular vehicle available under SEC rules. The name is derived from the periodic liquidity windows it offers.

In Champion’s case, investors can only sell shares twice a year; and only to an aggregate amount of 5% of the outstanding shares each period.

“We’re seeing rapid growth in the interval and tender offer fund market,” Nick Ablahani (managing director, head of retail alternative products, Ultimus Fund Solutions) said. “These structures are opening the door to alternative investments that were historically out of reach for retail investors, while also providing the transparency and investor protections of a [SEC] ’40 Act registered vehicle.”

Interval funds are similar to tender offer funds in that both provide limited redemption opportunities. The key difference is interval funds typically publish a net asset value per share each day.

There are currently about 300 interval funds with $290 billion in AUM in the marketplace.

Converting fans into investors is a holy grail within the sports business. The thinking is fans will spend money on shares, in addition to tickets and shirts, and be long-term, loyal stockholders.

But it’s never quite been executed on as envisioned.

The sports SPAC boom flopped (see: RedBall Acquisition Corp. or A-Rod’s Slam Corp.), as did concepts tied to athlete income sharing (think: Emmanuel Clase stock offering) and investing in athlete-led endeavors (see: P.J. Washington’s $1 million SportBLX deal). And publicly traded sports equities tend to trail the broader market, because of non-control discounts (see: MSG Sports, Atlanta Braves) and the lack of dividend income many investors seek (see: Manchester United suspending its dividend in 2022).

Edwards and Colston contend Champion Fund sidesteps those problems because its portfolio will be weighted among various types of investments that avoid concentration and style risk. The intention is to spread exposure across VC-style stakes, mid-cap PE, real estate and infrastructure, team and league equity, and other sports funds.

“These are not publicly traded [securities, like] stocks. [We are investing in] very high yield, high performing assets,” Edwards said. “We don’t underwrite anything that doesn’t show 25% growth…. Our goal is to have this be a very high return vehicle because sports is a very high return asset class.” 

The private sports portfolio is performing at +33% year-over-year.

The challenge now is getting the fund to critical mass. Ultimus’ Ablahani suggested for an interval fund that is somewhere between $100 million and $150 million in assets under management, a total that will generate enough fee revenue to cover costs and is large enough for some major retail platforms to begin offering it to their clients.

The market is there to invest if Mom and Pop rush in. Champion Fund is currently evaluating $750 million worth of deals.

“The big groups will form their own versions of this in the next few years, no doubt,” Edwards said. But if done right, “this thing can grow to $1 billion, $5 billion assets. There’s no cap.”

In the latest episode, The Sports Advisors turn their attention to the 2026 World Cup. The event is serving as a stress test on the modern sports business model. The core four unpack pricing power, real estate optionality, and what MLS and its clubs can do to capitalize on the once-in-a-generation moment and become more culturally relevant.

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