Georgia has solidified itself as a college football dynasty — and validated the huge investments made in its coach and facilities with an exclamation mark.

With an emphatic 65-7 win over TCU in Monday night’s College Football Playoff National Championship Game, Georgia became the first school to repeat as national champions since SEC rival Alabama did in 2012.

The Bulldogs (15-0) are also the first repeat champions of the CFP era — and since the playoff expands to 12 teams in 2024, the only ones to ever do so in the current four-team format.

The consecutive titles come on the heels of the university’s significant investments in the football program.

• In July, Georgia and head coach Kirby Smart agreed to a 10-year, $112 million contract — reportedly the largest ever given to a college coach.
• Since his first full offseason in 2017 and including 2023, Smart has achieved a top-three recruiting class in six of seven years.
• In May, Georgia unveiled an $80 million renovation project to Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall — home to the football team’s practice and training facility.

Future of the CFP

FBS football is heading into its last season with a four-team playoff format. In 2024-25, the postseason tournament will expand to 12 teams — guaranteeing the sport billions more in revenue and popularity than ever before.

One more four-team season will culminate in Houston in January 2024.

Formula 1 has invested heavily in its upcoming Las Vegas Grand Prix — and it’s expecting a huge return.

The series is targeting $500 million in revenue from the November race, its first in Las Vegas since 1982.

• The race generates cash through media deals, fees from race promoters selling tickets, corporate pacts, and its Paddock Club hospitality business.
• Three-day tickets cost around $500, with high-end, five-day packages hitting over $15,000. The first batch of tickets released by F1 sold out in under an hour.
• F1 booked $1.8 billion in the first nine months of 2022.

Heineken Silver will be the title sponsor of the race, while iconic Vegas names MGM Resorts, Wynn Las Vegas, and Caesars Entertainment are founding partners. 

The latter three are devising high-end luxury package deals, with Wynn offering $1 million experiences and Caesars a $5 million package.

The 2023 calendar will have 24 F1 races, up from 22 in 2022, and include three in the U.S., with Austin maintaining its longtime presence and the Miami Grand Prix entering its sophomore year.

Road Rage

The track could get more crowded in future years, with Andretti Global and Cadillac preparing a joint bid.

F1 president Mohammed Ben Sulayem expressed surprise at the pushback the group has gotten from other F1 teams, tweeting, “We should be encouraging prospective F1 entries from global manufacturers like GM and thoroughbred racers like Andretti and others.”

Top athletes across North America’s “big four” sports are trying something new: farming.

Joe Burrow, Blake Griffin, Kevin Gausman, Anders Lee, and around 20 other athletes are purchasing a farm in Iowa for roughly $5 million.

• The group is purchasing the 104-acre, corn- and soy-focused Bolton Farm through a special-purpose vehicle arranged by Patricof Co.
• Kemba Walker, Chris Middleton, Zach Ertz, and Sam Hubbard are also buying in.
• The group will lease the land to farmers and seek a single-digit-percentage annual return on the total investment.

The group — which will purchase four additional farms within the next few years, seeking a diverse set of agricultural assets — have looked into watermelon farms in Oregon, which tend to be smaller and offer higher per-acre rent.

A Growing Portfolio

Patricof Co. sources investment opportunities for athletes while also incorporating institutional investors such as JPMorgan.

Founder Mark Patricof told Front Office Sports on Monday that agriculture investments had been of interest for years but were foregrounded in 2022, when he felt the market was running too hot.

“We did three investments last year after doing six the year before,” said Patricof. “The market changed. The world changed. Prices didn’t necessarily go down, but valuations should have, so we held back. It was the right time in the cycle to put money into this asset class.”

By mid-November, the market turned more favorable, and the firm is preparing to announce its biggest deal ever, which will be with a “known brand in the alcohol space.”

The largest owner and operator of bowling centers in the world has reported its best year yet. 

Bowlero Corp., which has more than 325 bowling centers across North America, generated $1 billion in revenue in the trailing 12 months through Jan 1. — the close of Q2 2023.

The record results were attributed to strong demand for bowling, which sparked a 48% year-over-year increase in same-store sales. 

• Bowlero previously projected $878 million in revenue for the trailing 12 months. 
• Since June 2021, the New York-based company has added 40 new bowling centers.
• Two of those locations were new, while 38 were acquisitions.
• Bowlero hosts nearly 30 million people at its centers each year. 

According to president and CFO Brett Parker, Bowlero will target some of the 3,500 independently owned bowling alleys in the U.S. for takeover acquisitions, which are usually cheaper and quicker than building new facilities.

Lane Merger

In December 2021, Bowler went public via a merger with blank-check company Isos Acquisition Corp., valuing the combined entity at $2.6 billion. The transaction included a raise of about $450 million through a private investment in public equity from Apollo Global Management, Wells Fargo Asset Management, Brigade Capital Management, the Donerail Group, and others.