From the beginning, NACC has approached the business of professional sports differently. We see things differently, we think differently, and we are building this league differently and we believe that is exactly what is needed.
One of the most important examples is how we have chosen to capitalize NACC.
The conventional path for an emerging sports league is to raise a large pool of private-equity or institutional capital and use other people’s money—OPM—to finance operations while hoping the business eventually grows into the valuation promised to investors. That model can provide substantial upfront capital, but it also comes with a price: dilution, investor expectations, preferred returns, pressure on exit timelines, and potentially significant influence over the direction of the league.
NACC has chosen another path.
We believe the individual teams we are creating have real economic value. Rather than selling a significant percentage of the league itself to finance its launch, we intend to monetize the assets we are creating by selling founding teams to qualified ownership groups.
In simple terms: we will eat what we kill.
Every team we sell represents validation of the league’s business model and provides capital generated by the business itself. Instead of raising money based primarily upon what investors believe NACC might someday become, our objective is to finance NACC by successfully selling what we are actually building.
There is an important distinction between the two approaches.
Private equity monetizes the league. Team sales monetize the league’s product.
That distinction matters.
By financing NACC primarily through team sales, we can preserve significantly more ownership of the league, maintain control over its long-term vision, avoid building the organization around an institutional investor’s eventual exit, and create a network of owners who are financially and strategically invested in growing their individual markets and the league as a whole and most importantly, avoid the archaic and conflicted group think that has prevented the game from taking hold in the United States to date – and will continue to do so for as long as it remains the dominate mindset behind the sport.
Our team owners aren’t simply sources of capital. They become part of the economic engine. They bring capital, market relationships, local sponsorship opportunities, business expertise, community connections, and an incentive to increase the value of both their team and NACC.
One incredibly important component this approach imposes on us is discipline. We cannot simply raise a large pool of money and spend our way toward proving the concept. IT IS EASY TO SPEND OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY. By doing it our way, we have to create something so valuable that sophisticated people are willing to buy it.
That is accountability.
That is validation.
And that is how we believe sustainable businesses are built.
NACC is not opposed to outside capital, and there may ultimately be strategic investors whose capital, relationships, distribution, media capabilities, or other resources justify bringing them into the league. But there is an enormous difference between choosing strategic capital because it accelerates an already functioning business and needing private equity simply to survive long enough to build one.
Our objective is the former.
We believe NACC should first create value, sell value and use the proceeds to create even greater value.
We see things differently.
We don’t want to build NACC by living off OPM.
We intend to eat what we kill.