Burnley director creates $1.2bn sport investment fund
Burnley FC director Dave Checketts is fronting up a new $1.2bn (£900m) private equity fund with a wealthy Utah family.
Checketts, part-owner of the Clarets, is teaming up with the Eccles family – whose prominent member Spencer is on the Salt Lake organising committee for the 2034 Winter Olympics – to form the Cynosure | Checketts Sports Capital Fund.
The American was formerly of Real Salt Lake, Utah Jazz, and was chief executive of Madison Square Garden.
The fund plans to invest in facilities, leagues, teams, technology and media ventures, making the most of its US exposure through the two contributing parties.
Funds such as this one are able to invest across the sporting landscape, including up to a 10 per cent stake in an NFL franchise and various deals in NBA, MLS and NHL.
Checketts’s relationship with Burnley, who are in the Championship, could see the fund make moves this side of the Atlantic.
Burnley part of wider group?
It comes amid a major shift in sports ownership in Utah, where the owner of its NBA team, Ryan Smith’s Smith Entertainment Group, is selling its minority stake in the state’s football team Real Salt Lake.
The buyers, the Miller family, have just opened The Ballpark for the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees, a minor league baseball team.
It points to a rapidly shifting private equity and ownership market, with bidding wars and deals for sporting franchises all the more common.
“This partnership is a dream come true for me, reuniting me with the Eccles family, who were key in keeping the Jazz [NBA team] in Salt Lake City, bringing the Olympic Winter Games to Utah in 2002 and building tremendous intercollegiate athletic programs in the state,” said Checketts.
“By joining forces today with The Cynosure Group, we are creating a powerhouse entity with assets that will make us competitive on a global scale and will give us great opportunities to help shape the future of the industry right away.”
Burnley were purchased in 2021 by ALK Capital, in which Checketts is an investor, and have since announced investment by retired NFL defensive end JJ Watt, his wife and YouTube group Dude Perfect.