January 2, 2025
Andrew Petcash

2025: Look Ahead (And Everything You Need to Know in Sports)

Sports are pushing more and more into the center of all our lives.

We’re about to enter a period of abundance with technology enabling productivity to heights never seen before.

Historically, this is the best time to be in the sports industry.

We’ve already covered 2024 in sports…So what’s coming in 2025?

Let’s Dive In 👇

Emerging Leagues: Finding Equilibrium

The last few years saw hundreds of alternative sports being launched…

Every sport saw an alternative version, and most regions saw new leagues looking to be formed.

We will start to get an equilibrium — some leagues will rise to prominence while others will fall off.

A few to watch in 2025:

Cricket in general, from the Women’s Premier League to Major League Cricket in the US.
Pickleball’s merger into one league and if they can get viewership to ramp up.
TGL: $500m valuation before first their entertainment golf league started and Fling Golf taking a whole new idea to the great game.
LOVB: raised $100m+ to roll up volleyball properties with a league attached, and their competitor PVF continues to pick up market share.
Underserved sports like sailing with SailGP and tractors with Full Pull.
3on3 women’s basketball league Unrivaled raised $35M.
INTENNSE raised $4M to bring new formats to tennis.
League of Play’s pilot YouTube creator league opened many eyes, same with the NIL high school football league, Prep Super League.

Here’s what I wrote about emerging leagues last year (it still rings true):

“With the proliferation of streaming and social media, emerging leagues are empowered to find their fans (and fans of these leagues are empowered to find each other).

Investors are mobilizing to capitalize on this unique market moment, with significantly lower entry costs.”

Women’s Sports: Growth Stabilizing

2025 will see a maturing landscape for women’s sports, with a noticeable rise in multi-club ownership as groups specialize in managing multiple franchises.

However, we’ll also see a slowdown in the overall pace of investment as the market catches its breath (recalibrating after years of rapid expansion).

As the sector stabilizes, expect a more strategic approach to growth — focused on solidifying existing leagues, expanding fan bases, and continuing to build the infrastructure that will propel women’s sports into the next era.

2025 will be another step in the right direction.

Culture: Opening up New Doors

Fragmentation is bringing new demographics and innovations to sports.

This is highly evident in:

European basketball players changing the NBA game.
The rise of off-course play, creating a YouTube golf movement.
Cricket going global and getting a condensed American time format.
A continued push from leagues like the NFL and NBA to international markets and potential expansion teams.

It’s interesting to see sports evolve as they reach new regions, cultures, and demographics.

Don’t underestimate how big of an influence culture plays in where sports go…

It’s why at Profluence, we talk about how:

“Sports serve as a powerful platform for global innovation and growth — the heart of culture, competition, and community.”

The basketball-ization of sports is here to stay.

Youth Sports: Increased Attention

High school, prep schools, and youth sports in the United States will be one of the hottest verticals in 2025.

And the data makes sense why:

More than 60 million youth athletes.
A market cap of $30 billion (set to grow to nearly $80 billion).
Fragmented market of different leagues, operators, technologies, etc.

Athletes are the glue that holds all of sports together.

Talent identification and how we package education + sports are changing right before our eyes.

IMG Academy selling for billions is the first wave in a much larger trend.

However, we’ll see critical errors made by investors (especially those looking to roll up large chunks of the space) as they don’t understand the nuance well enough.

I anticipate that increased media attention will draw more founders into the space — who will realize that the market opportunity is great, but execution is more challenging.

Adult Social Sports: Beginning of its Climb

2024 was the first year adult social sports started reaching the limelight.

The opportunity in youth sports is similar to adult sports, with more enticing consumer lifetime values.

I won’t go too deep here, but I definitely see this as an area we’ll hear more about in the new year.

College Sports: Entering New Territory

Is this the year it all unravels?

Most likely not, but there are a few things I think we’ll see:

Head coaches forfeiting part of their salaries to have more budget for players.
Private equity transactions (most likely a league, but potentially a school).
More debates about player compensation, labor classification, & Title IX compliance.
Athletic departments investing in top-tier support services, especially on the financial/business side, to help recruit talent.

*Make sure to RSVP to our digital panel to get a deep dive into the landscape

With each passing day, it will look more like a professional ecosystem — blending the still-essential “college experience” with an increasingly competitive marketplace for talent and capital.

Thematic Funds: Investors Niching Down

While I felt it heavily in 2024, it’s been a multi-year trend of thematic funds across sports:

women’s sports
multi-club ownership
athlete investor groups
family offices taking themed approaches

While raising capital is still challenging, I would argue there’s more money than ever looking to deploy into sports.

investment in sports image of money going to athletics

You just have to know where to look, how to build relationships, and the best ways to forge partnerships.

Which is why we built the Profluence+ Community.

Here’s what’s coming from us in 2025.

Profluence+ in 2025

There are several things set to be released soon:

Profluence+ App – Access Profluence on the go (launching on both Apple & Google).
Ultimate Startup Fundraising Guide – 75% complete and packed with actionable insights.
In-person City Events – Starting in the US, bringing members together IRL.
Exclusive Member Content – More premium content tailored just for Profluence+ members.
Workshops with Top Leaders – More frequent, deeper dives with experts in their fields.
A Head of Community is joining to enhance your experience (announcement coming soon).
Exciting Partnerships – Big discounts and perks for members.

First In-Person Meetup 2025

Join us in St. Pete/Tampa, Florida for this year’s first meetup of — Sports Business Leaders powered by Profluence.

This first one is a free and open networking event for sports founders, investors, and corporate innovators.

RSVP Here

These meetups provide an opportunity for sports founders and leaders to connect, share ideas and contacts, and help one another build faster.

Profluence is a private community for ambitious sports founders ready to build meaningful connections, accelerate growth, and achieve tangible success.

By the numbers: