Arctos Sports Partners (Arctos), a private investment platform dedicated to providing growth capital and liquidity solutions to professional sports franchise owners across the “Big 5” North American leagues and European soccer, has appointed Chad Hutchinson as a Partner on the investment team and management committee.
“With tenacity and courage, Chad has built two incredible careers – one in professional sports and one in private equity,” says Arctos co-founder and Managing Partner Ian Charles. “He brings with him the experience and rigour of helping build and grow one of the private equity industry’s leading platforms as well as the unique perspective of a professional athlete in both baseball and football. His perspective and expertise around origination, operational value-add and pricing risk will add tremendous value to our organisation and team as we accelerate our firm’s growth and portfolio build-out.”
Prior to joining Arctos, Hutchinson served as a managing director at Sixth Street (formerly TPG Sixth Street Partners) where he helped build the firm’s agricultural investment practice and led a number of investments in specialty finance, growth equity and structured solutions. Before his decade and a half career in finance, Hutchinson was a two-sport professional athlete serving both as a starting pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals and as the starting quarterback for both the Dallas Cowboys and the Chicago Bears.
“Our success is built on our ability to bring together investment professionals and operational professionals with a deep understanding of the business of professional sports. We are thrilled to have Chad. He is an incredible human being,” says co-founder and Managing Partner David “Doc” O’Connor. “On top of being a great cultural fit, Chad is a unicorn – one of only seven people on the planet since 1970 to play in both the NFL and MLB. I am guessing of those seven, he is the only one who also went on to build an incredible track record in private equity.”
Arctos helps unlock growth opportunities through its strategic partnerships with professional sports franchises and ownership groups. The firm provides growth capital, liquidity solutions and operational expertise to its franchise partners, thereby enabling franchises to expand their growth locally and in adjacent markets, including data analytics, real estate, fan engagement, digital innovation, sports betting, international markets and more.
“Arctos is at the forefront of a new market within the professional sports ecosystem,” says Chad Hutchinson, Partner at Arctos. “The introduction of institutional capital in professional sports has the potential to grow franchises and leagues while delivering strong returns to investors. Arctos is leading this nascent market, driving innovation and value across their investments. I look forward to working with Ian, Doc and the team to continue to evolve professional sports investment and ownership.”
