Scottie Scheffler typically tries to avoid landing in water hazards. But his new investment calls on him to make a splash.
The No. 1 golfer in the world is investing in Sport Fishing Championship (SFC), an international saltwater fishing league. Scheffler, an Olympic gold medalist, headlines a group of celebrity investors which includes Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy Moss, New Orleans Saints star running back Alvin Kamara, Charlotte Hornets forward Grant Williams and country music star Brian Kelley. Those five standouts will become team owners as SFC sheds its amateur open format and transitions into a more competitive traditional format debuting next spring with 16 teams.
“We look for people that believe in the vision,” SFC CEO and commissioner Mark Neifeld said in an interview. “It’s about shared alignment. We want people that believe in the large opportunity that SFC has.”
The new format allows athlete investors like Scheffler to pick up trophies on the course and off the coast. Coming off one of the most successful years in golf in recent memory, the Dallas native has taken controlling ownership of the Texas Lone Stars Angling Club, with exclusive marketing rights in territories that include Dallas, Austin and San Antonio, as well as coastal markets like South Padre Island and Corpus Christi.
The new closed championship format, representing 16 regions across North America, calls for the teams to compete week-to-week in a move SFC hopes will develop regional fan bases and spur more brand awareness around the emerging property. Each team will hire a general manager but will be led by its celebrity owner who garners his own fan bases outside of offshore fishing.
Moss, a former star wide receiver and restaurant franchise investor, is a longtime fisherman who has competed in celebrity fishing events, while Kamara is building on his relationship with SFC after participating in previous celebrity tournaments hosted by the league. It’s Kamara’s latest foray into another sport.He also currently serves as NASCAR’s first growth and engagement advisor. SFC has partnered with star athletes and celebrities in the past, but this transaction marks a pivot. These high net-worth figures want to take advantage of the sport’s growth and join the league cap table.
“We’re not doing it because they’re an All-Pro or Hall of Famer,” Neifeld, a former NFL and MLB executive, said. “We’re doing it because while we’re having a conversation with them it’s [clear] that they’re interested in wanting to make a strong investment in their sports portfolio .… Fishing is the largest white space in sports that remains open.”
These new investments into SFC each carry a team fee ranging from high six-figures and above, according to someone familiar with the transactions. SFC, which has raised more than $13 million since being founded in 2021, will deploy its new funds to bolster the launch of its first direct-to-consumer product, SFC+, an OTT streaming platform for content creators and tournament organizers. The infrastructure costs associated with the new team format will also be addressed along with investments in the associated regions to grow the sport through community initiatives.
SFC, which is out in the market shopping 2025 media rights after partnering with CBS for distribution during its first three seasons, has already sold ownership rights to more than half the teams in the initial expansion offering. The league continues to fundraise and top executives have been in discussions with venture capital firms and institutional investors as it looks to complete an oversubscribed series A round next year. SFC, which launched its first season in 2022, is banking on fishing’s growth nationwide as a competitive sport and hopes its new celebrity partners can usher in a new era for the startup league.
“We want to continue to reinforce growth within our niche community and over the next couple years begin to position ourselves to attract more of a general audience,” Neifeld added. “The new team owners have given us a position to be able to attract people and now there’s a tentacle to bring in their fans into our communities. We’ll continue to leverage opportunities like that.”
