Three weeks after announcing plans for a $150 million fund, former NFL pros Terrence C. Murphy Sr. and Reggie Bush have made their first move, acquiring the Salt Lake City League One Volleyball team.
Financial details of the deal for LOVB Salt Lake were not disclosed. Murphy and Bush bought the team from the league, which previously controlled the franchise as part of its league-controlled launch model. The deal provides a second portfolio company for their new private-equity firm, Synergy Sports Capital—it already housed USL Championship soccer club Atlético Dallas, which Murphy originally invested in by himself.
The LOVB deal came quickly, given the duo only just formed the firm. But Murphy—a former Texas A&M standout wide receiver who was drafted by the Packers in 2005—is no rookie to the game of investing. After his playing career was cut short due to a neck injury sustained in his rookie season, he got into investing through a deal with Dallas-based PE firm Stillwater Capital.
Murphy tells Front Office Sports he and Bush “didn’t just fall off the turnip truck and decide to start a fund,” and that they have “probably 20 deals that are teed up just like this.”
“If anybody knows anything about me, I’m a very strategic planner and a visionary,” Murphy says. “Yes, I’m an emerging manager, but I’m not a first-time fund manager.”
The new fund, which is still raising capital, will invest at both the team and league level, with plans to develop associated real estate and buy sports-adjacent businesses. In addition to buying Salt Lake LOVB, Murphy and Bush have the option to invest directly in the league, which would make sense given the significant ties between the two sides.
Murphy’s daughter, who is in ninth grade, is already part of the LOVB pipeline. The organization starts at the youth level, where players can join as early as middle school and continue through high school and college, all under the same umbrella as the pro league.
“It’s a very unique setup,” he tells FOS.
Founded in 2020, LOVB bought up and built out a network of thousands of youth teams across the country, which created a natural fan base (and eventual pipeline) for its pro teams. It launched with six teams in Atlanta, Austin, Houston, Madison, Omaha, and Salt Lake City. In 2027, the league plans to add teams in Los Angeles, Minnesota, and San Francisco. LOVB is in its second season.
Murphy and Bush are not the only celebrity owners. The first team the league sold to an outside owner was Austin—the owners include Spurs Sports & Entertainment, which owns the NBA’s Spurs, as well as Bolt Ventures, which is the venture firm of Devils and 76ers owner David Blitzer. Elsewhere, the McNair family, which owns the NFL’s Texans, bought the Houston team; Seven Seven Six, the venture firm of Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, acquired the Los Angeles team; and a group featuring gold medal-winning volleyball player Kelsey Robinson Cook and retired soccer stars Leslie Osborne Lewis, Brandi Chastain, and Danielle Slaton own the San Francisco team.
No franchise valuations have been disclosed. LOVB has raised at least $160 million of outside capital, including $100 million announced in 2024 and led by women-founded PE firm Atwater Capital. Individual investors include Olympic gold medal-winning skier Lindsey Vonn, WNBA legend Candace Parker, Kevin Durant’s Boardroom Sports Holdings, and comedians Amy Schumer and Chelsea Handler. That money was raised at the league level, not for individual franchises.
LOVB games are available on multiple platforms. In addition to a multiyear media rights deal with Victory+ announced in December, games air on USA Network, ESPN+, and YouTube.
“The ecosystem is coming to life,” says Sandra Idehen, a former Nike executive who was hired as LOVB’s first commissioner in January.
She tells FOS the league intends to add an additional team as well to get it to 10 total franchises—that announcement is “coming soon.”
“The most important piece is the ownership board we are now bringing together,” she says. “It’s an incredible collection of those with experience operating in the best and most formidable men’s and women’s sports leagues.”
