Harrison Co.

Harrison Co. Restaurant Senior Advisor, John Weiss, was featured at the RFDC and by the Franchise Times in a piece titled, “Restaurant Operators Take Note: Look Beyond Unit Economics”. https://lnkd.in/gHMQDfgV

Harrison Co. Fitness and VMS Partner, Paul Byrne, was recently featured on the Escape Your Limits Podcast and shared his unique perspective and insight in an episode titled, “The GLP-1 Game Changer: Strategies for Fitness Sector Growth”. https://lnkd.in/gvMcAbE2

Harrison Co. Partner, Paul Byrne, recently shared his insights and perspective with the Fitness Business Podcast in an episode titled, “Navigating the Strength Training Boom, Enhancing Customer Service, and Innovative Marketing Strategies.” https://lnkd.in/gDMT_f6D

Athletech News quotes Harrison Co. Partner and former President of Precor, Paul Byrne, regarding expanded focus in the fitness industry on GLP-1 medications. “I think it’s one of the biggest opportunities to come along for the industry in a long time.” https://lnkd.in/gK9mAeMv

TOP 10 PERFORMING SPORTS STOCKS OF 2024! 2024 was a good year for sports, while smaller sports products brands tapped into the continued interest in sports, fitness, and active lifestyles (Bonny Worldwide Ltd, ASICS, Mizuno USA,), certain sports technology and analytics platforms outperformed due to their focus on providing insights and not just data (Catapult, Sportradar, Genius Sports), while the leading live event platforms won through their focus on using technology to deliver a seamless, frictionless fan experience (CTS EVENTIM AG & Co. KGaA, Live Nation Entertainment). We can't wait to see what 2025 holds! #Research #Sports #Insights #InvestmentBanking #MergersandAcquisitions

Historically, teams held all the power in sports. They were the brand, they controlled the narrative, and they were the center of a fan's sports universe. Fans bled team colors, and athletes were often seen as interchangeable pieces of an enduring institution. But today, athletes hold the power because of changes in technology, society, and laws: +Social media has given athletes direct access to fans, allowing them to build personal brands independent of their teams. ***As shown here, many individual star players have social media followings far greater than the teams that they play for***. +Fans now care about not just a player’s on-field performance, but also their off-court life, personality, and the connection they feel with the athlete. +NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) rights have empowered collegiate athletes to monetize their influence and build their perceived 'value' to professional teams and potential brand sponsors. This has far reaching implications to numerous parties: +INVESTORS: The value is increasingly in people over logos. Athlete-driven sponsorships, content, and businesses are lucrative opportunities for investors, which can be seen by the influx of athlete-driven companies, investments, products, and brands. +PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES: They have the power to dictate terms, build value off the field, build personal franchises, and create their own following. Think LeBron, Serena, or Messi—they are global brands, no matter which team they play for. +COLLEGIATE ATHLETES: NIL means that athletes with strong personal brands can attract deals that generate cash, build further awareness, and enhance their influence—all before they even go pro. +TEAMS: Teams must support and amplify their players’ personal brands, and not compete with them. Building loyalty now involves showcasing individual stars alongside team success, as seen so clearly with Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers' World Series win which was witnessed widely by Shohei fans in Japan, Asia, and around the world. +BRANDS: More than ever, it is easy to identify athletes with shared values, understand the strength of their personal brand, and quantify the impact of their affiliation with the company. This is why corporate sponsorship dollars continue to increase, former players are increasingly recruited to the commentator booths (eg. Tony Romo, Tom Brady, Jason Kelce), and brand are engaging earlier with athletes (NIL). The balance of power has shifted. Teams are no longer the sole gatekeepers of influence. Athletes are now the center of fans' sports universe, and are therefore shaping the future of sports. What’s your take on this transformation? #SportsBusiness #AthleteInfluence #NIL #FanEngagement #FutureOfSports #NFL

INSIGHTS ABOUT THE BEST-PERFORMING SPORTS CATEGORIES: ? Hospitality and Event Management leads all sports categories as live events benefit from longer-term secular trend towards experiences and events, and also from the post-pandemic return to in-person activities, with all companies in the category producing positive 3-year stock returns. Live Nation Entertainment and Sphere Entertainment Co. represent the vast majority of the returns. ? For Teams and Leagues, the largest franchises, such as Formula 1 / Liberty Media, Madison Square Garden Sports Corp., Atlanta Braves, and Manchester United, have generated the vast majority of the positive returns of the category, with most of the smaller franchises generating negative returns over the same period. ? Event Management Software's positive overall return is pulled up by CTS EVENTIM AG & Co. KGaA's relative size and impact on the category index as well as its overall strong 44.2% 3-yr stock performance. ? For Sports Retail Distribution, the 'winners', namely DICK'S Sporting Goods and Frasers Group, which have been surviving the retail shakeout and outperforming the market over the past 5-, 3-, and 1-year(s), are propping up the Retail category while the largest player, JD Sports Fashion continues to struggle. ? Both Sports Apparel and Sporting Good Products categories continue to recover from post-pandemic artificial highs. ? Facility-based Sports Centers, led by Vail Resorts and Topgolf Callaway Brands, continue to struggle across the board. ? And B2B Sports Technology business normalize post-IPO (Sportradar, Genius Sports). AGREE, DISAGREE, OR HAVE A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE, LET ME KNOW! NOTES: ? Stock returns by category are value-weighted ? Logos on the visual are the largest value-weighted contributors, but do not represent the entire index ? For a full breakdown of the companies in each category, DM me ? Sources: Pitchbook, company filings, and Harrison Co. proprietary analysis

Best-Performing Sports Team Stocks ? Over the past three years, only three publicly-traded sports franchises have outperformed the S&P 500 (Formula 1, FC Porto, and Celtic Football Club) ? Meanwhile, only three other franchises generated a positive stock return during that same three year period (Madison Square Garden Sports Corp., Sporting Clube de Portugal, and TKO) ? Across the board, nearly all of these companies (those with both positive and negative stock returns) have shown revenue growth over the past three years, which has limited correlation to stock performance (recovery from COVID slump likely mitigating some of the revenue growth impact on stock performance) ? The drivers of sports franchise stock returns are situation specific, from profitable vs. unprofitable business models to increasing vs. decreasing profitability to financial consistency vs. inconsistency, but is something that we will dive into in a subsequent post.

The Increasing Size and Frequency of Sports M&A Deals Over the past two decades, across sports subcategories, both the frequency of M&A deals and also the size of transactions has increased materially. Several factors have contributed to the increase in the SIZE of deals, including: ? Increasing media rights deals for professional sport franchises. ? Changing ownership rules in major league sports allowing institutional capital to increase their presence on major league cap tables in minority and control positions. ? Consolidation, which has created large and growing platforms, such as Varsity Brands. ? Increasing number of sports-focused investment platforms, such as Fenway Sports Group, Arctos Partners, Concert Golf Partners, and Diamond Baseball Holdings. Meanwhile, other factors have driven the increase in FREQUENCY of M&A sports deals, particularly in the middle and lower-middle-market, including: ? New technologies, such as computer vision, motion capture, artificial intelligence, advanced data analytics, and more, have given rise to a wide variety of new businesses that have proven attractive acquisition targets and roll ups by larger buyers and investors. ? The professionalization of sports has proliferated across sports facilities, sports training, and team management and organization, among other things, which has driven consolidation, investment opportunities, and a desire for strategics to scale up their operations and capabilities. ? Innovative businesses that have pioneered new products, end markets, and business models, such as second hand sports, streaming monetization, youth sports broadcasting, sportainment, and more, have led to an increase in deal making. The underlying fundamentals of the sports M&A market remains stable, and therefore we expect deal making to remain consistent and strong for the foreseeable future.

How Hard and Rare is it to Become a Professional Major League Athlete? ? From your time as a youth, you have about a 1/10th of one percent chance to make it to the major leagues in your sport. ? The odds of making it to 'the bigs' also depends on your sport; making it to the NBA is the most rare with only 0.01% of youth athletes making it to the league, versus football which has the highest number of youth players going to the NFL at a 0.17% rate. ? Soccer and football have the highest percentages of athletes continuing from youth to high school, while soccer also has the lowest percentage of athletes transitioning from high school to college (1.1%). ? Ice Hockey has the highest number of athletes transitioning from college to professional , whereas basketball has the lowest, both of which are driven by idiosyncrasies within each sport; ice hockey is a largely regional sport and the NHL draws from a smaller pool of schools and athletes than other sports, whereas the NBA recruits from a large pool of college players but is generally limited by the physical size of players necessary to be successful in the league. If you find this data or post of interest, please repost! NOTES: - Data includes both men and women - Includes only the top professional domestic 'major leagues', including the NBA, MLS, MLB, NFL, PGA/LPGA, LaX, and NHL, and does not include minor leagues - Data from multiple sources