William Blair’s acquisition of Inner Circle Sports (ICS) was discussed recently on Bloomberg TV’s “Open Interest” with Matt Zimmer, global head of Investment Banking, and Rob Tilliss, ICS co-founder and William Blair’s new co-head of Sports, Media & Entertainment. The discussion with hosts Dani Burger and Vonnie Quinn focused on what motivated the transaction, the roles ICS has played in many high-profile deals, the strong long-term interest in the space, and trends in compelling subsectors—including teams, stadiums, sports tech, media, and college athletics.
“There’s a great opportunity with the tailwinds we have behind us,” Tilliss said. “We found a partner with Matt and William Blair that aligned with our vision and our mission, and what we wanted to try to accomplish to really grow our business over the next five to 10 years.”
“Private equity is finding ways to deploy capital into athletics,” Zimmer said. “They may not be being a big stake in a team … but a lot of the traditional private equity firms are trying to find ways to play around the athletics space, so think about software going into sports, services, products, picks and shovels.”