Sports Illustrated Tickets

End-to-end ticketing platform powered by the iconic Sports Illustrated brand.

Details

Stage: Series B

Industry: Sports Technology

Summary

Sports Illustrated Tickets (SI Tickets) is a vertically integrated ticketing and live events platform operating under the globally recognized Sports Illustrated brand. Licensed through an exclusive partnership with Authentic Brands Group, the company delivers a comprehensive suite of ticketing services spanning the entire event value chain—from primary issuance and secondary resale to large-scale asset trading and in-venue fan engagement. The company operates three core business segments. Its Asset Trading division, powered by the SeatHQ platform, represents approximately 85% of revenue and positions SI Tickets as one of the top ticket traders in North America, with a 20-plus year track record and an 80% profitable trade rate. Its Primary Ticketing segment offers Box Office, a proprietary SaaS-based blockchain ticketing platform. The Secondary Marketplace at SITickets.com provides over $2 billion in sports, concert, and theater ticket inventory with zero-fee transparent pricing and a 100% refund guarantee. SI Tickets is an official ticketing partner of the NFL, MLB, and multiple professional teams and stadiums across the NFL, MLS, Premier League, and EFL. The company secured the historic naming rights for Sports Illustrated Stadium and a 12-year Official Fan Experience partnership with Tottenham Hotspur.

Background

SI Tickets traces its origins to June 2020, when Lunatix, a seasoned New York-based ticket trading operation, began operating under the Sports Illustrated brand through a licensing agreement with Authentic Brands Group. CEO David Lane brought over 25 years of live events and consumer marketing experience from roles at FanDuel TouchTunes and CBS Outdoor, while Co-Founder and President Marcus Stern contributed 27-plus years of deep relationships across the global ticketing industry. The company formally launched the SI Tickets secondary marketplace in July 2021 with a fan-first flat-fee pricing model. In May 2023, SI Tickets expanded into primary ticketing with Box Office, a proprietary blockchain-backed SaaS platform. Strategic acquisitions of HAPPSnow (December 2023) and AnyTickets (August 2025) further scaled the company’s primary ticketing and asset trading capabilities. SI Tickets operates in a $78 billion global online event ticketing market, with the U.S. segment representing $41 billion. The company is the only platform in the industry covering all nine capability areas across fans, sellers, and rightsholders—a distinction no competitor, including Ticketmaster, StubHub, Vivid Seats, SeatGeek, or AXS, can claim.

Why The Champion Fund Invested:

Ticketing is the connective tissue of the live sports economy—and SI Tickets is building the only platform that controls the full value chain. Most ticketing companies compete in a single lane: primary issuance, secondary resale, or asset trading. SI Tickets operates across all three, creating a flywheel where rightsholder relationships feed proprietary inventory, marketplace liquidity attracts more partners, and the Sports Illustrated brand delivers a trust-based moat that no pure-play competitor can replicate. Our conviction deepens at the infrastructure level. SI Tickets isn’t simply reselling access to events—it’s building the technology rails that rights holders and venues depend on. Box Office, its blockchain-backed primary ticketing platform, and SeatHQ, its institutional-grade trading engine, position the company as essential plumbing for how live events are distributed and monetized, we believe. With 30 NFL teams’ primary ticketing contracts up for renewal after the 2026 season and SI Tickets already one of only three exclusive NFL Ticket Network partners, we believe the window for market share capture is significant and time-bound. From a portfolio perspective, SI Tickets represents Champion Fund’s thesis in action: giving investors access to the high-growth-potential technology layer of the sports ecosystem. The company’s rights holder partnerships and venue infrastructure create natural connection points across Champion Fund’s broader portfolio—from enhancing matchday fan experiences at portfolio sports assets to powering ticketing at sports-anchored real estate developments. It is the kind of investment where the company’s growth strengthens the entire ecosystem around it, and where Champion Fund’s network can accelerate that growth in return.

Highlights

$508M Projected FY’26 Revenue:

Pro forma net revenue including pending AnyTickets acquisition, with 59% YoY growth

$3.2B Contract Value:

Total contracted value across rightsholder partnerships and venue deals

Notes

  • $508M Projected FY’26 Revenue: Pro forma net revenue including pending AnyTickets acquisition, with 59% YoY growth

  • $3.2B Contract Value: Total contracted value across rightsholder partnerships and venue deals

  • Official NFL Ticket Network Partner: One of only three exclusive ticketing partners of the NFL alongside Ticketmaster and SeatGeek

  • 80% Profitable Trade Rate: Asset trading division maintains 80% profitability across 20+ years of operations

CO-Investors

Authentic Brands Group

Ava Labs

Affirm

Manole Capital Management

Drew Brees (NFL Hall of Famer)

BBG Ventures

Bellnote Partners

Cuneo & Company

Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the Fund before investing. The prospectus contains this and other information about the Fund and can be obtained by emailing champion@sweaterfunds.com or by visiting the Fund's website at https://www.thechampionfund.com/.

Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.