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While big-name athletes like Candace Parker and Reggie Bush were pitching team ownership as the holy grail of wealth building onstage at an invite-only event in Phoenix, former NFL safety Tre Boston was in the audience and found himself wondering: With such a high cost to entry, how can anyone below their level get in?
The discussion was part of PAC Accelerate, a conference from March 30 to April 2 that brought together more than 400 pro athletes and executives and investors looking to connect with athletes on potential investment opportunities.
“They’re telling a room of athletes this is the best thing to do, but how do they actually do it?” Boston tells Front Office Sports. “What about the majority of folks who don’t have $1 million to put into a deal?”
Boston, 33, earned more than $17 million over seven years in the NFL playing for the Panthers, Chargers, and Cardinals. His investment portfolio includes nine separate padel clubs, as well as tech companies like Fastbreak AI and commercial real estate. He recognizes his good fortune: the average NFL career is less than four years, and research has shown many professional athletes never receive formal financial education.
During a bathroom break, Boston overheard a conversation that echoed his own question. It was Parker Graham, founder and CEO of Vestible, an app aimed at opening access to investment opportunities in sports for investors outside the highest-earning tier. On Vestible, anyone can buy shares in pro teams (that have opted in) for as little as $500.
Boston and Parker started talking. “I’m like, ‘Oh my god bro, this is a hit,’” Boston says. “I wanted to invest because there’s so much potential.”
Vestible’s first team is Kapfenberger SV 1919, an Austrian soccer club that currently plays in the country’s second-highest tier and finished in third place last season. Roughly 30% of the club is for sale through Vestible, which is selling shares using the Regulation A crowdfunding exemption offered by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Vestible’s plan is to close the KSV offering by the end of April.
KSV announced the offering in January in a press release that was careful to clarify the club retains full control. The team’s managing director Robert Schafer said in the release, “This partnership gives us a new way to access global investment capital while keeping control of the club’s sporting and operational decisions exactly where it belongs.”
On Vestible’s web site, it values the team at 10 million to 16 million euros (or $11.7 million to $18.7 million in USD) over a three- to five-year timeline.
“We’re democratizing access to sports teams,” Graham tells FOS. “The whole goal is to do what Wrexham did, but in a different way.”
In addition to Boston, he’s secured commitments from a number of other athletes, including ex-MLB pro Jay Jackson.
Jackson, 37, retired last year after earning over $3 million during an MLB career that included stints with the Padres, Brewers, Giants, Braves, Blue Jays, and Twins. He now runs his own baseball mentoring and coaching business, the S.M.I.L.E. Zone, and has also authored a motivational book.
Like Boston, Jackson says he “always wanted to be a sports team owner,” but ran into what he describes as high barriers to entry. He saw a post on Instagram about Vestible and reached out directly. Graham later connected him with a group investing in Major League Volleyball’s Dallas Pulse, which is also backed by Mavericks coach Jason Kidd.
“We stayed in touch, and when he told me about the KSV deal, I decided to hop on that one as well,” Jackson tells FOS. “I’m on my entrepreneurial journey, and I’m making sure to invest in the right places.”
Vestible’s attempt to take advantage of the growing interest in team ownership is not its first Wall Street-style bet on sports. The company previously allowed fans to buy into the future earnings of pro athletes, a business model that has been used by other companies, including Fantex and Finlete. The latter counts suspended MLB pitcher Emmanuel Clase, who was indicted over allegations of pitch-rigging, as one of its athletes.
The platform enabled fans to buy into the future earnings of NFL linebacker Baron Browning, and that offering closed in 2024 after raising more than $656,730 through the sale of more than 65,600 shares at $10 apiece. That model has yet to gain traction at scale, and Vestible has now turned its focus to team ownership.
KSV is the first of roughly 20 clubs Graham hopes to make available on Vestible, starting with more European soccer teams.
