For $1.3 Million, an NFT and Stake in a Mexican Soccer Team
The NFT is digital, the ownership stake is very real.
Martin Barragan of Necaxa (right) celebrates after scoring against Monterrey during their Mexican Clausura football tournament match at Victoria Stadium in Aguascalientes, Mexico, on Feb. 19, 2021.
Photographer: HECTOR HERNANDEZ/AFPAfter Al Tylis merged his publicly traded companies NorthStar Asset Management and NorthStar Realty with Colony Capital in 2017, he pivoted to investing in sports. He put money into the Major League Soccer team D.C. United, the Welsh soccer team Swansea City A.F.C., and the New Zealand Breakers, an Auckland-based basketball team.
Looking around for his next purchase, Tylis turned to Latin America, and did a double take. “Sports are effectively media properties,” he says, “and I saw something a while back that I found relatively shocking: In the U.S. alone, more people watch [Mexican soccer league] Liga MX than Major League Soccer and the Premier League combined—it was just an unbelievable number to me.”