David Blitzer’s Bolt Ventures and Main Street Advisors, a fund affiliated with NBA star LeBron James, are buying into MotoGP franchise Tech3.
Bolt and Main Street are joining a group led by Ikon Capital, which agreed late last year to buy the Red Bull KTM Tech3 team from Hervé Poncharal. The deal closed this month, the groups announced Thursday.
Reporting around Ikon’s deal last September said the group was taking over operations for about €20 million ($23.4 million). It’s unclear whether that number was just Ikon’s part of the transaction, but the whole group, which includes some other backers, is paying about $50 million for the team, said the person, who was granted anonymity because the details are private. A representative for the buyers declined to comment on the sale price.
It’s the first major franchise transaction since Liberty Media Corp., owner of F1 and the Atlanta Braves, purchased a majority of the motorcycle racing circuit last July. That deal assigned MotoGP a €4.2 billion ($4.9 billion) enterprise value and a €3.5 billion ($4.1 billion) equity value due to existing debt.
Blitzer is believed to be the only individual to hold equity in franchises in all five major U.S. sports leagues. He has stakes in the Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Devils, Washington Commanders, Cleveland Guardians and Real Salt Lake. His Bolt holdings also include a number of European soccer teams, including Crystal Palace (England), AD Alcorcón (Spain) and Waasland-Beveren (Belgium).
Main Street is a multifamily office that manages about $8.7 billion in assets for a group of artists, athletes, entertainers and entrepreneurs. Its deals have included Fenway Sports Group, Beats by Dre, the PGA Tour, On running, AC Milan, IMG Academy and the Alpine F1 Team. The group has led all investments made by James and his business partner Maverick Carter for the last two decades.
The Tech3 team was founded in 1989 and is based in France. The team competes in both MotoGP and the lightweight Moto3 circuits. Other backers in the team, according to the release, include Alpine driver Pierre Gasly, ALK Capital, Barry English of Penman Holdings and Richard Cook of Dolphin Capital.