No longer an active baseball player, Alex Rodriguez has been dipping his toes in the business aspect of sports. The man with 600-plus home runs has decided to step into the ring, figuratively speaking, by investing in the Professional Fighters League.
Rodriguez is now the partial owner of the PFL after contributing a $30 million funding round. He joined Waverley Capital, which now values the company at $500 million. He will be sitting on the board of directors.
“I love the global reach of MMA,” Rodriguez said in a release. “The PFL continues to build and innovate for fans, media, and fighters, and there is massive demand in the marketplace.”
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The investment will go toward the PFL's global expansion and the establishment of a pay-per-view superfight division. The PPV aspect of the PFL has been a big topic of discussion as the PFL grows.
“With this new capital, PFL is open for business to sign the biggest MMA star fighters in the world to our new PPV Super Fight Division,” said PFL CEO Peter Murray, “Just as we changed the game with our league season format, we will now disrupt the long-overdue pay-per-view business for the benefit of fighters by partnering to make them major participants in the revenue of their own fights.”
Investors of the PFL outside of A-Rod include Ray Lewis, Wiz Khalifa, Legends, and Ares Capital, among others.
What is the Professional Fighters League?
Following the acquisition and restructuring of the World Series of Fighting, the PFL was founded in 2018. It is the first major MMA promotion where athletes compete in a regular season, post-season, and championship format. The PFL uses a point system, with wins in a certain round resulting in a certain number of points. The fighters in each division compete multiple times a year for a spot in the PFL Finals. The winner of that takes home the championship of their division and $1 million.
The PFL has a television deal with ESPN, with events airing on ESPN and ESPN+.
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Several athletes that compete in the PFL have fought all over, from boxing to MMA. Rory MacDonald, Lance Palmer, Kayla Harrison, Ray Cooper III, Jeremy Stephens, Julia Budd, Clay Collard, and Anthony Pettis are just a few of the fighters they have. Recently, the PFL picked up undisputed boxing champion Claressa Shields. She will continue to box while also fighting in the cage.
The PFL is currently in its fourth season. In 2020, the season was nixed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alex Rodriguez’s investments
Following a 22-year baseball career that ended in 2016, Rodriguez became the co-owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball team in April '21. He bought the franchise for $1.5 billion along with Walmart e-commerce executive Marc Lore.
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Through his A-Rod Corp firm, founded around 1995-'96, Rodriguez has invested in UFC-branded gyms. The chairman of Presidente beer, Rodriguez tried becoming the owner of the New York Mets with Jennifer Lopez. He has also invested in NRG Esports, TruFusion, and Nova Credit, among several others.
“Alex is building a business career in sports that he wants to equal his baseball career,” PFL founder and Chairman Donn Davis told CNBC. Davis called Rodriguez “innovative in his approach to investing and building companies.”
Alex Rodriguez’s net worth: How much money did he make playing baseball?
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Alex Rodriguez's net worth is around $350 million. Per Spotrac, he made over $450 million in his baseball career.
Rodriguez signed a $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers in 2000. He later was traded to the Yankees in '04. After opting out of a $252 million contract with the Yankees, he signed a $275 million deal.