The Thesis

Athletes and creators used to rent reach from teams, leagues, and platforms. New Networks is the bet that the tools letting them own their audience directly — direct-to-fan commerce, NIL infrastructure, personal CRM — are building durable, ownable channels rather than one-off monetization hacks. The distinction that matters: New Fandom is the audience an organization is trying to understand; New Networks is the talent's own infrastructure for reaching that same audience without an intermediary.

The operator lens.

LIV Golf's entire go-to-market was built on athlete-led brand equity rather than league-first marketing, and our exposure to Spotify's artist economy — direct royalty, promotion, and fan-data tooling built around individual creators rather than the platform — sits in the same lane. Both are direct operating experience with the mechanics this thesis is betting on, not third-party research.

What the data says.

The global creator economy is estimated at roughly $325 billion in 2026, up from about $205 billion in 2024, and fan-related, direct-to-consumer solutions captured more than 65% of the $12.5B+ in disclosed 2025 sports-tech VC funding — the category isn't a side bet inside sports-tech, it's most of the money moving through it. Athelo GroupTensquared

The Signal

Two live examples anchor the athlete-specific version of this trend. Luka Dončić launched 77X in early 2026, a direct-to-fan commerce platform built around his own audience relationship rather than through a club or league intermediary — a marquee-athlete proof point. At the other end of the market, France-based Peaxel connected more than 75 professional athletes across 35 countries and 50 disciplines within 30 days of its 2026 launch, spanning niche categories like parkour and kiteboarding — evidence the pattern holds below superstar tier, which is the part of the market a small check is more likely to actually access. SgieuropeSgieurope