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(Bloomberg) — Investment firm Apex’s latest bet on emerging sports is women’s soccer in Canada.
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The company is buying a C$30 million ($21 million) minority stake in Canada’s Northern Super League that will go in a fund it started late last year for investing in smaller sports entities that are getting less attention from investors.
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The Northern Super League was founded last year by Diana Matheson, a former Canadian national team star, as the first women’s entity of its kind in Canada. It has six teams, a few major sponsors, including Toyota and Coca-Cola, and generated more than C$30 million in revenue, which doesn’t include media rights.
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“We believe this is the strongest women’s professional soccer league in the world,” said António Cacorino, Apex’s chief executive officer and co-founder. “There’s massive growth to be captured but already an amazing operating team that has showcased a very successful first season.”
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Valuations for sports teams have surged in recent years as leagues loosened ownership rules to lure large institutional investors. During this sports boom, taking stakes in leagues has been rare, but Apex is betting that helping build one will create greater long-term value. The fund also invested in the NFL’s partnership with TMRW Sports to launch a pro flag football league.
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“In the early days of women’s sports, it makes more sense to invest directly in leagues,” Cacorino said.
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In the NSL’s first season, average attendance per game was a little less than 4,000. That’s more than some established women’s leagues, such as Spain’s Liga F, according to NSL President Christina Litz. The league features several players from Canada’s national team.
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“This has been a long time coming for Canadians,” Litz said. “Now, it’s all about growth. We’ve been extremely ambitious, and we want to be a top-five league in the world.”
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One challenge will be sustaining that momentum. The National Women’s Soccer League was founded in 2012 and has become North America’s dominant women’s soccer competition. The US entity has 16 teams and average attendance over 10,000 per game the last three seasons, according to the league. Its larger revenues allow it to pay the highest salaries in the sport and better able to lure top international talent.
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