Apollo and Liverpool FC Epitomize the Global Sports Boom

Liverpool Football Club broke the British record for purchasing soccer players twice this summer, with the Premier League club spending well over £100 million ($134 million) each in deals for Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak. The trades helped push spending by English clubs to more than £3 billion, the highest ever, during the summer transfer window, which closed on Monday.

These mind-boggling numbers highlight a boom in sports industries globally, and the huge demand from private capital, sovereign wealth funds and the ultrarich to invest in them. Apollo Global Management Inc., for example, is planning a $5 billion dedicated sports fund. Sports financing has long been an interesting but esoteric and tiny segment relative to bank lending and broader private capital. Apollo’s planned fund is still dwarfed by the group’s total assets under management of $840 billion, but it’s a sign that this niche is becoming a more significant standalone segment.