A REGISTERED SPORTS INVESTMENT FUND.Built by people who’ve operated inside the game.
The Champion Fund is an SEC-registered interval fund offering managed exposure across the global sports economy — with a focus on opportunities where institutional capital is still underrepresented.
The Operators Who Know
How this industry works
The Champion Fund is managed by a team that combines direct operating experience across every major North American professional sports league, wealth management experience as a former registered representative, and a collective record of raising and deploying capital at institutional scale.
Marques Colston
Founder & Portfolio Manager
Operator and executive with more than a decade of leadership across the NFL, emerging sports leagues, and private capital. Co-owner of three Arena Football League franchises. Advised Arena Football League on strategic partnerships with DraftKings, CBS, William Hill, and Facebook. Strategic Advisor to NFLPA One Team Collective and NFL Players Inc. Former registered representative, Series 7 and Series 66, at Janney Montgomery Scott. Co-Founder of Venture Playbook at Columbia Business School.
Nick Edwards
Founder & Portfolio Manager
Investment manager and entrepreneur with 15+ years at the intersection of professional sports, private capital, and high-growth businesses. GP and LP experience across venture capital, private equity, SPVs, and growth-stage investments. Has built and led companies from formation through capitalization, scaling, and strategic transactions. Direct operating experience inside the NFL, NHL, NBA, and MLS.
Chuck Pettid
Partner
Founding team member and EVP at Republic, the global private markets platform, where he helped raise capital across alternative assets and personally led $1 billion+ in company raises. Oversaw $200 million+ in acquisitions of regulated fintech infrastructure, including Seedrs and INX, a licensed digital asset exchange. Raised capital for more than a dozen professional sports teams and directed a full acquisition offer for a Premier League club. Board member across Republic entities, Everyrealm, and others. MBA in Finance, Fordham Gabelli School of Business.
The Thesis In Practice
The Champion Fund’s approach isn’t theory. Our position in Ipswich Town FC illustrates the model.
Ipswich Town FC finished second in the 2025–26 EFL Championship and was promoted to the Premier League for 2026–27.¹ In 2024–25 the Premier League paid £2.83 billion in central payments to its 20 clubs, from £109.2 million to £174.9 million per club.² Official 2025–26 payments have not yet been published; The Athletic estimated more than £3 billion.³ Championship clubs' total revenue was £942 million in 2024–25, about £39 million per club.⁴
total club revenue, about £39m per club
central payments, £109m–£175m per club
estimate; official figures not yet published
¹ Premier League, 23 Jun 2026. ² Premier League, "Premier League central payments to clubs 2024/25", 1 Jul 2025. ³ The Athletic, reported 26 May 2026. ⁴ Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance 2026. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Our position in Ipswich was established before the club’s step up to the Premier League. The Fund retains the right to allocate additional capital at the same entry point.
That’s the thesis: off-market opportunities with institutional-quality positioning, acquired before the market reflects what the asset is becoming.
The window is open.
It won’t be forever.
When institutional capital discovers a category and begins pricing it systematically, conditions shift and early positions become harder to access at current terms. That moment is approaching in this space. The window is open today.
Institutional capital has concentrated in major-league franchises, which are now priced like core holdings, not growth holdings.
Global sports is expanding faster than professional investment infrastructure has followed — in international clubs, media, technology, and fan experience businesses.
Institutional capital is just beginning to systematically discover the broader sports ecosystem that the Champion Fund was built to access.
Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Registered. Regulated.
Built to last.
The Champion Fund is organized as a registered investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940 — the same regulatory framework governing the investment industry’s most established funds. That means mandatory SEC oversight, required disclosures, and governance standards built into the structure by law. Liquidity isn’t a feature we added to attract investors. It’s a legal requirement.
Registered Investment Company
Organized under the Investment Company Act of 1940 — the same framework governing the industry's most established funds
Required Public Disclosures
Mandatory SEC reporting and governance — transparency that private funds are not required to provide
Liquidity By Law
The Fund will offer to repurchase 5% of its outstanding Shares at NAV each February and August.†
Daily NAV
The Fund calculates its net asset value daily.
† The Fund's first repurchase offer is scheduled for August 2027. Offers are set by fundamental policy and may be prorated if more Shares are tendered than the offer covers. An early repurchase fee applies to Shares repurchased within 545 days of purchase, tiered 2.0% through 185 days, 1.5% through 365, and 0.5% through 545.
Five Investment Categories.
One managed portfolio.
The Fund deploys capital across five categories of the global sports economy. Each is an area where we believe institutional discipline creates real differentiation.
- Sports Tech
- Teams & Leagues
- Media & Services
- Real Estate & Hospitality
- Thematic Funds
Sports Tech
Growth-stage businesses redefining how sports are played, watched, and monetized globally.
Teams & Leagues
Minority positions in sports teams, clubs and leagues worldwide.
Media & Services
Established media, content, and service businesses with sports adjacency and institutional-quality fundamentals.
Real Estate & Hospitality
Sports-driven real estate — venues, districts, and hospitality, held directly and through operating companies.
Thematic Funds
Curated LP and GP stakes in sector-focused funds with complementary sports ecosystem exposure.
The Fund does not manage to fixed category proportions.†
† See the Prospectus for the Fund's investment strategy and restrictions.
Current portfolio
Four investments currently held in the Fund — each reflecting the thesis of global reach, multi-category exposure, and positioning in parts of the sports ecosystem where institutional capital has not yet fully arrived.
Sports TechSports Illustrated Tickets
SI Tickets offers digital ticketing under the Sports Illustrated brand, built on blockchain so ticket ownership can be verified. The Fund's position in SI Tickets provides exposure to the technology behind how fans buy and hold tickets.
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Teams & LeaguesIpswich Town FC
Ipswich Town FC is one of the most storied clubs in English football. The Fund holds a minority stake in the club, which provides exposure to club ownership in English football.
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Media & ServicesFathead
Fathead makes licensed sports wall graphics and memorabilia, with licensing across the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL. The Fund's position in Fathead provides exposure to sports consumer products and fan culture.
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Thematic FundsEmerging
Emerging is a venture capital fund investing in the ‘sportstainment’ economy — immersive, experience-driven businesses including Puttshack, F1 Arcade, and Batbox. The fund’s LP position in Emerging provides exposure to next-generation fan experience businesses at the intersection of sport, entertainment, and real estate.
View companyCommon questions
Public market sports investments trade with equity market volatility and reflect investor sentiment as much as underlying asset value. The Champion Fund invests directly in private sports assets, ventures, and funds — positions that do not trade on public exchanges and are not accessible through public markets. The 40 Act interval fund structure provides private market exposure that is traditionally not accessible to retail investors, with regulated access and repurchase offers beginning in August 2027.
Beginning in August 2027, the Fund will make semi-annual repurchase offers for 5% of its outstanding Shares at net asset value, in February and August each year.† † If requests exceed the offer, they are fulfilled pro-rata — each investor receives a proportional share of the available pool. Selling all of your shares may take more than one repurchase offer. Shares held less than 18 months may be subject to an early repurchase fee of up to 2%.
Track records reflect past performance in markets that no longer exist at the same entry points. The Champion Fund is structured to institutional standards from day one — registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, governed and regulated. Past performance is not indicative of future results. There is no guarantee that early investment in this Fund will produce favorable outcomes.
Insights
Why Manager Selection Matters So Much in Sports Investing
In public equity markets, manager selection matters, but within limits.
Read MoreHow The Champion Fund Evaluates and Selects Opportunities
Selection discipline is inseparable from the access argument.
Read MoreBuilding Exposure Across the Sports Economy — Five Categories, One Thesis
The Champion Fund does not build a portfolio from a single asset type or a single geographic market.
Read MoreThe Global Sports Economy Is A Real Asset Class.
This is how you access it.
SEC-regulated. Institutionally structured. Managed by people who know how this industry works — from the field to the front office to the capital-markets infrastructure behind every major transaction. The Champion Fund is built differently.