Harbinger Sports Partners Unlocks Institutional Access via iCapital Marketplace

Harbinger Sports Partners, a private investment firm specialising in minority ownership of premier U.S. professional sports franchises, has officially launched on the iCapital Marketplace.

The move, announced on yesterday, 14 January 2026, signals a shift in how institutional and high-net-worth investors access one of the world’s most resilient and scarce asset classes.

Historically, minority stakes in major leagues like the NFL, NBA, and MLB were reserved for a narrow group of ultra-wealthy individuals.

Harbinger’s arrival on iCapital, a platform used by over 100,000 financial professionals, aims to provide a modern private-markets framework for sports ownership, offering increased transparency and professionalised “disciplined underwriting.”

The Strategic Investment Thesis

The firm, led by their president, Mark Cuban, CEO Steve Cannon, and CIO Rashaun Williams, identifies sports franchises as durable, long-term assets with low correlation to traditional public equity markets.

“For decades, minority ownership in professional sports was broken—limited access, misaligned economics, and little institutional structure.”

“Sports teams are durable long-term assets, but the way investors access them hasn’t evolved,” Cuban said. 

Key commercial drivers for this asset class include:

• Media Rights Certainty: Long-term, multi-billion dollar agreements with partners like NBC, Amazon, and Disney provide predictable, recurring revenue.

• Structural Scarcity: A finite number of franchises in major leagues creates a natural value floor and high barrier to entry.

• Uncorrelated Returns: Sports valuations have historically remained resilient through economic downturns and are seen as a hedge against inflation and AI-driven market disruption.

Leadership and Operational Expertise

Steve Cannon (former CEO of AMB Sports and Entertainment) and Jonathan Mariner (former MLB CFO) join Williams and Cuban to lead the investment process.

Rashaun Williams emphasized that the intersection of “durability and recurring revenue” makes these assets increasingly important for portfolio construction in a volatile market.

Through the iCapital partnership, Harbinger aims to streamline the “add-to-cart” experience for advisors, allowing them to participate in the “golden era” of sports investing.

This is particularly timely as major leagues have recently eased ownership restrictions, with the NFL now allowing private equity firms to acquire up to 10% of a team, a move that has already facilitated record-breaking minority transactions for franchises like the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers.

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