COOLTURE
INSIDER
May 23, 2026 | Issue 010
Sports Franchises: A Scarce Asset On The Rise
Why iconic teams, their merchandise economies, and their collectibles ecosystem are one of the most institutionally-resonant Scarce Asset on earth.
Executive Summary
Sports franchises are one of the cleanest, largest, most institutionally-validated expression of the Scarce Assets thesis in the world today. They sit at the exact intersection of the Coolture's Scarcest Assets Thesis: taste-driven, supply-inelastic cultural goods compounding through Lindy, Veblen, mimetic, and digital amplification dynamics.
The headline data point: Joshua Kushner launching Thrive Eternal, a permanent capital holding company explicitly designed to own assets "rooted in tradition, identity, and shared experience" that "cannot be replicated by technology", and choosing the San Francisco Giants as its first investment is not a sports deal. It is the most legible institutional ratification of the entire Scarce Assets framework to date. The man who led OpenAI's $86B and $100B rounds, who underwrites infinite intelligence, just told the market that the inverse of what he funds, singular, century-old, culturally irreplicable franchises, is where permanent capital belongs.
This thesis covers the franchise layer, then the two adjacent economies that compound off it (merchandise/licensing and collectibles/memorabilia), and closes with the strategic implications for Coolture.
I. The Reference Set: Three signals dropped within weeks of each other. A single regime change.
Mark Cuban noted that NBA player contracts are heading toward $100M+ per year and that top players will out-earn some owners. The driver is the NBA's new media rights deal: 11-year broadcast deals with ABC/ESPN, NBC/Peacock and Amazon Prime Video for a reported $76 billion, or an average of $6.9 billion per year, a roughly $4 billion annual raise over the old agreements. National TV revenue is roughly tripling. The salary cap is set to rise ~10% annually for the life of the deal. Player labor is repricing because the underlying franchise cash flows are repricing.
Joshua Kushner announced Thrive Eternal and the SF Giants stake. The framing in his own words is the thesis. He called the targets "assets with qualities that cannot be replicated by technology…Iconic franchises and cultural institutions rooted in tradition, identity, and shared experience", and added, "In a world shaped by abundant intelligence where creation scales and distribution fragments, we believe they will matter even more". Thrive isn't disclosing details of the Giants deal, which remains subject to MLB approval, but word is that it's for a sub-10% stake and includes both primary and secondary purchases. Neither of the club's two existing institutional owners, Arctos and Sixth Street Partners, sold. The Giants are valued at approximately $4 billion and carrying more than a century of community identity.
Forbes / Beckham. David Beckham crossed billionaire status, with Inter Miami as the engine. Inter Miami is now valued at $1.45 billion, the most valuable club in Major League Soccer, with Beckham's personal equity in the franchise estimated between $250 million and $300 million. The $25 million option into a $1.45 billion asset is the kind of return that rewrites reputations. Mohamed Mansour and his business partners had to pay a record-breaking fee of $500 million for the new San Diego FC expansion team, the price of a new MLS slot is now 20x what Beckham paid for his option a decade ago.
Three frames, one trade: abundant capital → scarce cultural objects.
II. The Two Thesis Frameworks, Mapped Onto Franchises
Thesis Mechanism | How a Sports Franchise Embodies It |
|---|---|
Macro Scarcity: higher, more concentrated numerator chasing a flat denominator | There will only ever be 32 NFL teams, 30 NBA / 30 MLB / 32 NHL franchises. Global Top 100 wealth grew ~10x since 2000. |
Lindy Effect: antifragility through age | Giants founded 1883. Cowboys (1960), Yankees (1903), Real Madrid (1902). Lindy-compliant by a century. |
Veblen Dynamics: higher price = more cachet | Lakers selling at a $10B valuation didn't reduce demand for NBA teams — it created new floor pricing. |
Mimetic Desire: ownership signals discernment, triggers imitation | Steve Ballmer ($Clippers) → Joe Tsai (Nets) → Mat Ishbia (Suns) → Mark Walter (Lakers) → Joshua Kushner (Giants). Every tech billionaire watches the others. |
Digital Amplification: social globalizes local prestige | Messi to Inter Miami: Instagram followers surged from 1M to 17M+, jersey sales generated $200M+ globally first year. |
Network Liquidity + Tokenization: blockchain rails expand the buyer pool | Currently absent at the equity level, but emerging at the memorabilia/collectibles layer (Sorare, Fanatics Collect, Topps Vault, Dibbs). |
Monetary Debasement Hedge: cannot be inflated | Forbes 50 sports teams total ~$353B, up 22% YoY — outpacing both inflation and the S&P 500. |
Curation Gap: who decides what's canonical | Sportico, Forbes, and the leagues themselves are the NYSE of franchise value; the cultural narrative layer (who matters, why now) is unowned. |
III. Franchise Valuations: The Data
NFL: The Apex Predator
Six years ago, the world's most valuable sports team was worth $5 billion. Now, that figure wouldn't even crack the top 30. Every one of the 32 NFL franchises is now worth at least $5 billion.
The 2025 Forbes top-of-stack:
