Three-time NBA All-Star Ben Simmons is entering a new league—this time as an owner.
Simmons has acquired an ownership stake in the South Florida Sails Angling Club, a Sport Fishing Championship team. The deal is for a 50% stake and values the club in the “high seven figures,” SFC commissioner Mark Neifeld tells Front Office Sports.
The transaction closed last month, so while Simmons was not directly involved for most of this fishing season, he is gearing up for a larger role in 2026. He plans to attend many of the league’s tournaments and has already been involved in personnel decisions.
“I always wanted to be on the ownership side of a pro team,” Simmons tells FOS. “Having a passion for fishing, and having experience playing pro sports, I think I can really help this league grow.”
The South Florida Sails were previously operated by the league; it was sold to the group featuring Simmons after a competitive bidding process. The group includes another NBA pro, Lonnie Walker IV, as well as real estate and private-equity investors.
The Australian native and former No. 1 NBA draft pick developed a love for fishing years ago, when his family moved to the coastal city of Newcastle, New South Wales. He has made clear his fondness for fishing in YouTube videos and Instagram posts. Simmons still remembers the first significant fish he ever caught. He was young, seven or eight years old, fishing down by a river near a family friend’s house in Australia, with shrimp as bait.
“I caught a massive flathead,” Simmons says. “I was in shock. I couldn’t believe how big it was.”
Simmons is not the first well-known athlete to get involved in SFC, which was formed in 2021 and is expanding from 14 to 16 teams next year. In July, ex-NFL pro Terrence C. Murphy invested in the Third Coast Renegades Angling Club; the former Green Bay Packer and decorated Texas A&M University wide receiver bought a 20% stake in a deal valuing the team in the mid-seven figures.
Other SFC team owners include pro golfers Scottie Scheffler and Talor Gooch, former NFL great Randy Moss, current NFL players Alvin Kamara and Raheem Mostert, and NBA player Grant Williams.
SFC holds tournaments in various fishing towns across the U.S. and Mexico. This year, Scheffler’s Texas Lone Stars Angling Club won the end-of-season championship, the Zane Grey Championship Playoffs, held in October in Cabo San Lucas. The sport works on a point system, where different fishes count for different amounts of points. In angling or sport fishing, the fish caught are thrown back, not kept.
As a team owner, Simmons does not participate in the actual competition.
Simmons—who is not officially retired from the NBA and is still technically a free agent—has earned more than $203 million in contracts with the 76ers, Nets, and Clippers. He last played in the NBA in 2024. His playing career has been plagued by injuries, including foot and back issues.
Early in his career, when he was healthy, Simmons was a star—from 2017 to 2021, he averaged roughly 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists per game. During that time span, he won Rookie of the Year, made three All-Star teams, was named to the All-Defensive first-team twice, and was a one-time third team All-NBA player.
Simmons declined to comment to FOS on his NBA plans, but he told Andscape his basketball-playing days are not over. Currently an unrestricted free agent, Simmons has been working out twice a day six days a week, with the aim of finding a way back into the NBA either later this season or next season.
In the meantime, he’s preparing for the 2026 SFC season, building a portfolio of investments that also includes apparel brand Reel One Fishing Club, and enjoying every minute he can spend on the water.
“Every chance I get to get out on the water, I’m happiest,” Simmons says. “You never know what you’re gonna see—the ocean’s an incredible place.”
