The Lakers just sold for $12.5 billion. The Seahawks went for just under $10 billion. Liverpool, roughly $7 billion.
Davis Noell told Private Capital that none of those numbers tempt Providence Equity Partners into buying a team outright — the firm buys the businesses that sit underneath the entire industry instead.
"Owning an individual sports team I believe is more of a vanity play."
Davis co-heads Providence's North America practice and has spent his career finding the "boring" infrastructure businesses behind sports, media and advertising that most investors overlook.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 54 minutes of audio, 7 minutes of reading.
Here are the 5 numbers that matter.
Private Capital · Oct 25, 2026 · 54m · 47m saved
With Davis Noell, Senior Managing Director, Co-Head of North America at Providence Equity Partners
Key Takeaways
Franchise prices have gone parabolic — the Lakers at $12.5B, the Seahawks near $10B, Liverpool at $7B — but Davis says owning a team outright is "more of a vanity play," tied to one city, one sport, one owner
Passive minority-stake vehicles don't fit either: leagues give minority holders no real rights, and Providence wants to be the controlling investor more than 75% of the time
Providence bought the infrastructure instead: a stake in THE·TEAM (the sports and culture agency, since taken to full control in a deal valuing it at $3.4 billion), a stake in Populous (the architecture firm behind roughly one in five of the world's stadiums and arenas), and d&b (the German audio manufacturer whose systems are in the Royal Albert Hall and the Sydney Opera House)
Providence makes only four or five sports-adjacent deals a year out of its whole fund, in the $500 million to $1 billion range, favoring a founder or smaller firm that has "capped out" over buying from a peer private-equity shop
Anthropic at $800 billion "may be a good investment. It is not a private equity investment," Davis said — AI and digital platforms scale too fast and too globally to fit Providence's model, which is why the firm leans into live events and proprietary data instead
DoubleVerify, bought in 2017 as the third-ranked ad-verification player, is now public with 2026 revenue estimated above $800 million and EBITDA above $275 million
Davis expects a shakeout in private equity as firms that can't raise their next fund shut down, even as the biggest names pull in more capital — a dynamic he says favors middle-market, sector specialists like Providence
1. The Infrastructure Play
Davis opened by explaining why Providence has never bought a sports franchise outright, even as prices have exploded.
Franchise prices have gone parabolic — the Lakers at $12.5B, the Seahawks near $10B, Liverpool at $7B
"The Lakers just sold for 12.5 billion. The Seahawks sold for just under $10 billion. Liverpool, what, 7 billion... these numbers are astounding." — Davis Noell
Owning a team is "a vanity play" tied to one city and one sport
"Owning an individual sports team I believe is more of a vanity play... you're also very tied to one city and one sport. So that has not been our strategy." — Davis Noell
Passive minority stakes don't fit either, Davis said, because leagues give minority holders no real rights, and Providence is a control investor more than 75% of the time.
"We always want to be an active investor. We want to be able to sit with the management team, potentially control the outcome... 75% plus of our investments were the controlling investor." — Davis Noell
