Goldman Sachs’ private equity arm announced a partnership with Excel Sports Management Tuesday, following a report from Financial Times that the financial firm was nearing an acquisition of the talent agency with a valuation of close to $1 billion.
The transaction still requires regulatory approval. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. Excel represents roughly 750 clients, with deep rosters in baseball, basketball, football and golf. Its A-list clients include Caitlin Clark, Tiger Woods, Jared Goff, Nikola Jokić and Cal Raleigh. Agencies have benefited from the rising value of athlete contracts, driven in large part by growing media deals, while also expanding their reach across the industry. Excel also now assists with sponsorship sales, executive searches, brand marketing and event management. Founded in 2002, it is based in New York.
The agency model has been attractive for investors. In 2020, Shamrock Capital bought a minority stake in Excel for an undisclosed figure. More recently, Creative Artists Agency sold for $7 billion and Endeavor, which includes talent agency WME, was taken private in a $25 billion acquisition.
Goldman has continued expanding its sports work since creating a global investment banking division in 2023 that combined preexisting M&A and financing offerings.
However, bigger financial firms’ growth within sports has led to some complications. For instance, Silver Lake divested WME’s basketball representation business and sold WME’s NFL representation arm due to the new ownership’s ties to professional team cap tables.
Goldman worked with the NFL on the sale process for the league’s media assets, which were sold to ESPN, and helps owners facilitate franchise transactions, such as the Baltimore Orioles’ sale in 2024. As it has expanded its consumer offerings, the firm has also increased its own sports marketing allocations, starting in 2020 with a three-year endorsement of golfer Patrick Cantlay.
(This story has been updated in the third paragraph to correct that Shamrock Capital’s stake in Excel was for an undisclosed figure.)
