On January 27, 2026, the United Soccer League announced USL Premier as the official name of its Division One men’s professional league, scheduled to launch in 2028 (USL Official Announcement). This announcement introduces promotion and relegation to U.S. professional soccer for the first time, fundamentally reshaping the competitive framework in which clubs like Sporting JAX will operate.

USL Premier will sit atop a three-tier structure:

Tony Scholes, current Chief Football Officer of the English Premier League, will join USL’s profesional men’s league as President (USL). While competitive outcomes remain uncertain and no assurance of promotion can be made, the introduction of this structure provides important industry context for how operating and infrastructure investments may be evaluated over time.

The Sporting Club Jacksonville opportunity represents a franchise investment combining institutional capital deployment, operational infrastructure, and real estate development in a secondary sports market.

Sporting JAX launched in 2023 backed by Tim Tebow, venture capitalist Ricky Caplin, and NFL legend Fred Taylor, amongst others. The club fields both men's and women's USL soccer teams, along with a 12,000-player athlete soccer academy created through a merger with Florida Elite Soccer Academy. But what makes this opportunity even more compelling, Is the integrated OpCo + PropCo value creation model being deployed at scale in a market with exceptional fundamentals.

In 2025, Momentous Sports was announced as a lead investor in the franchise. Backed by John Elway, Tebow, Chick-fil-A CEO Andrew Cathy (through Four Stones), former Robinhood president Scott Friedman, and FS Investments co-founder John Shain, Momentous is building what Elway describes as "not just another sports investment platform"—it's a vertically integrated approach pairing team ownership with the real estate ecosystem around stadiums.

This is the Momentous model in practice.

In traditional sports ownership, franchise valuations are largely tethered to operating performance: ticket sales, media rights, sponsorship revenue, and on-field results. Real estate often does not exist as an owned asset, teams lease stadiums from municipalities, or it is treated as a cost center rather than a scalable source of value.

The OpCo/PropCo structure changes that equation. By separating the operating company (the team, brand, and competitive operations) from the property company (the stadium and surrounding mixed-use district), this model introduces additional value creation pathways. Team ownership maintains economic alignment with the real-estate platform through participation at the PropCo GP level, allowing on-field performance and off-field development to reinforce one another rather than operate independently.

Team enterprise value continues to be driven by operating fundamentals, but it is complemented by exposure to real-estate cash flow, development upside, and long-term asset appreciation. In leagues such as the USL, where valuations have historically traded at approximately 6x–12x revenue, depending on market dynamics, stadium control, and growth profile, aligned real-estate economics may influence both cash-flow durability and exit outcomes.

With the introduction of USL Premier and promotion and relegation, this structure adds potential optionality. While competitive success is uncertain and not guaranteed, Division One-compliant infrastructure may influence how some investors evaluate long-term positioning.

Investors are underwriting a combined platform, not a single operating business.

Operating Company (OpCo) Value Drivers

Property Company (PropCo) Value Drivers

This approach has been applied in other sectors. McDonald's built substantial value through property ownership alongside operations, with property holdings representing a significant portion of total assets by 2015. Hilton Hotels executed a similar transformation under Blackstone ownership, separating hotel operations from property ownership. Momentous is applying a comparable framework to sports franchises in emerging markets.

Sporting Club Jacksonville's planned 15,000-seat stadium paired with mixed-use development is designed to create two distinct, financeable assets with differentiated risk profiles. The OpCo is intended to deliver stable cash flows from stadium naming rights, local sponsorships, ticket sales, premium seating, and merchandise. The PropCo is designed to capture real estate economics, diversified revenue from non-game day activation, and create potential opportunities for additional institutional capital deployment.

Secondary markets are where attractive entry valuations meet accelerating demographic and infrastructure tailwinds. 

Jacksonville checks every box.

Market Fundamentals:

Median household income of $66,981, up 4.43% year-over-year

Sporting JAX CEO Steve Livingstone projects the stadium and district will “create billions in financial impact” for Northeast Florida and more than 5,000 jobs. The mixed-use development will include retail, dining, hotel, residential, and community spaces designed as a year-round activation hub.

This is where PropCo value creation accelerates. Stadium districts can generate revenue year-round through rent from tenants in multifamily developments, concerts, festivals, corporate events, high-school and NCAA championships, and consistent daily foot traffic to retail and dining establishments. Teams are increasingly evolving into real-estate platforms, not just sports operators.

Sporting JAX exemplifies three themes driving institutional capital into middle-market sports:

1. Entry Valuation Advantage
Compared with headline valuations in the NFL and NBA that now approach the high single-digit billions, middle-market sports franchises offer access to diversified, underwriteable operating cash flows at a fraction of the entry price. USL Championship teams trade at 1/50th to 1/100th the valuation of top-tier leagues, yet benefit from similar structural advantages: predictable revenue streams, scarcity value, and limited competition for live entertainment in their markets.

For context, franchise fees in the USL Championship now start at $20 million, with total valuations (including stadium ownership) in the $100 million range. The NWSL's recent Atlanta expansion commanded a $160 million franchise fee, signaling how quickly these markets are re-rating.

Sporting JAX investors are positioned ahead of this inflection.

2. AI-Enabled Operating Leverage
Franchises that deploy advanced analytics for dynamic pricing, fan engagement, injury prevention, and player performance optimization demonstrate superior margins and more predictable cash flows than peers. This creates material separation in institutional attractiveness.

Sporting JAX's partnership with Ascension St. Vincent's provides healthcare services for the 12,000-player youth academy, creating a vertically integrated athlete development and wellness platform. Data generated from youth-to-pro pathways, combined with fan engagement tools and sponsorship analytics, compounds value over time in ways traditional franchise models cannot replicate.

3. Women’s Sports as a Growth Accelerant
The WNBA saw franchise values rise 180% year-over-year, while the NWSL and women's soccer globally represent the fastest-growing segments in sports investment. Sporting JAX's dual-gender model captures this tailwind while building community engagement across broader demographics.

What Happens Next

The women’s team currently plays at the University of North Florida’s Hodges Stadium. The men’s team debuts in March 2026. Stadium site selection and financing announcements are expected in 2026, followed by construction and a projected 2027 / 2028 opening, aligning with Division One Professional League Standards ahead of USL Premier’s 2028 launch.

For accredited and sophisticated investors, Sporting JAX illustrates how institutional capital, AI-enabled operations, and real-estate value creation can intersect in secondary sports markets.

Recent structural developments in U.S. soccer, including the January 27, 2026 announcement of USL Premier and the introduction of promotion and relegation, provide an important industry context for understanding how operating entities and real-estate structures may evolve over time.

This framework is not centered on trophy assets or celebrity-driven valuation. Instead, it reflects how sports organizations can be structured as scalable operating businesses with diversified economics and multiple potential liquidity pathways.

In this model, the OpCo is designed to participate in operating leverage and competitive upside, while the PropCo captures real-estate economics that may remain independent of on-field performance or league status.

More broadly, the discussion is less about whether private capital participates in middle-market sports, and more about how structural re-rating can occur as ownership, governance, and asset design continue to professionalize.

This newsletter is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. All financial data presented represents historical performance of specific venues and should not be construed as indicative of future results. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investment in sports venues and related assets involves significant risk, including potential loss of principal. The behavioral economics concepts discussed are based on academic research and historical case studies that may not apply to all situations or guarantee similar outcomes. No representation is made that any investment approach discussed herein will or is likely to achieve results similar to those shown. Any investment decision should be made only after careful consideration of all relevant factors and consultation with qualified financial, tax, and legal advisors. Momentous Sports and Magnolia Hill Partners make no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy or completeness of this information and disclaim any liability arising from your use of this information. This material has not been prepared in accordance with requirements designed to ensure unbiased reporting, and there are no restrictions on trading in the securities discussed herein prior to publication. For qualified accredited investors interested in learning more about our educational materials and investment approach, please contact us directly for a confidential discussion.