Eli Manning Buys Into Youth Sports, but ‘This Isn’t About Raising Prices’

Eli Manning focused on the field during his playing career, forwarding investment opportunities to his management and advisors while he won two Super Bowls across 16 seasons with the Giants. 

In retirement, that strategy has shifted. 

When Manning retired in 2020, he reached out to several different groups he had invested alongside in the past and sat in on calls about potential investments. He was intrigued by a program Brand Velocity Group has called “share the gains,” under which the private-equity firm provides 10% of the carried interest it gets when exiting a portfolio company to employees of that business (carried interest is the cut of the profits a firm takes after an investment is sold for a gain).

“It was very much, ‘Hey, we’re all in this together,’” Manning tells Front Office Sports. “The idea is if everyone does their job, everyone benefits. I appreciated that approach.”

He became a partner in 2022. “They were interested in getting a little more into the sports world,” Manning says. “Not team ownership necessarily, but the adjacencies around sports.”

BVG announced such a deal on Thursday, picking up RCX Sports, the large-scale youth sports league operator behind programs like NFL Flag, MLS Go, and NHL Street. Through partnerships with the NFL, NHL, MLB, MLS, NBA, and WNBA, it provides infrastructure for, and operates, thousands of youth sports leagues across the country. There is no upfront cost to launch a league with RCX, and most programs cost between $25 and $40 per athlete per season.

Manning is well aware of the public perception of private equity, particularly in the world of youth sports, where soaring costs led a group of Democratic lawmakers to recently propose legislation that would effectively ban PE investors from owning or operating youth sports businesses. According to Manning—who has four children involved in youth sports—BVG and RCX are not part of the problem.

“This isn’t about raising prices for families,” Manning tells FOS. “This is about keeping prices low and adding access so that more kids can play sports. That’s the ultimate goal.”

During his conversation with FOS, Manning also dished on a number of current stories in the sports world, from the Knicks’ finals run to his expectations for the Giants under new head coach John Harbaugh.

FOS: You’re a big Knicks fan. What do you make of their Game 1 victory over the Spurs, and how they’ve been playing in general this whole postseason?

Manning: Unbelievable run, this playoff stretch. There’s such excitement around New York. I went to several of the playoff games already and plan to go to some of the Finals as well. What a great win last night, being down 13 in the third quarter but then turning things around and getting hot. 

Brunson is so clutch down the stretch. In all these playoff games he’s been clutch, but especially in the fourth quarter last night. It just feels like everybody is playing well and doing their part. They’re so unselfish. You truly feel like no one cares about who’s getting the credit; it’s about what they’re working towards. 

I can’t wait to be at the Garden next week to see that atmosphere up close.

FOS: Last year you considered buying a minority stake in the Giants but ended up passing. Do you still have interest in owning a piece of a pro team?

Manning: The only team I would have interest in would be the Giants. I don’t have any interest in being part of some other organization. The Giants are my home. When I knew they were selling 10%, I was definitely interested in pursuing that and figuring out if there would be an opportunity. 

FOS: What ultimately led you to decide that wasn’t the right move at the time?

Manning: At the end of the day, for the amount of money to have a .001% stake, I said, what am I gaining from this? I don’t need to say I’m an owner. I don’t even think I would say I’m an owner if I had that small a percentage.

FOS: The Koch family ended up buying that 10% stake. What do you think about them?

Manning: I’ve gotten to know Julia [Koch] and that family. It’s the perfect scenario, and they’re the perfect owners to be involved with the Giants. I think it’ll be a great partnership.

FOS: The Giants have a new head coach and have made some significant changes; they just signed your former teammate Odell Beckham Jr. What do you make of the Giants right now?

Manning: It’s full circle with Beckham back. I’m excited for the Giants, I’m excited for coach Harbaugh, what he brings, what he has already established with the culture. You see it right away when a coach enters the building. He’s been a head coach for 18 years, he knows exactly what he wants, how he wants practices to be run, and the expectations he has for players. He has a gameplan for the whole offseason, training camp, everything. He’s been through it and he knows what this is supposed to look like. He knows how everyone should be held accountable—not just players, but everybody in the entire organization. 

You see the sense of urgency and you see the change. They have a cast of great players that can quickly make the jump from being a not so great team to a team that’s competing. The fact that they had five games last year where they were up by double-digits but went on to lose just shows you that if you get the right coach and have players with a little more maturity, they can learn how to win those games. That can be the difference between winning five games and winning 11 games.

FOS: Your nephew, Arch Manning, is heading into his junior year at the University of Texas. Could he be even better than you and Peyton?

Manning: Hey, I hope so. I’m rooting for him. I’ve been so proud of Arch, how he’s handled everything since he was a 14-year-old freshman in high school to now. He’s handled the limelight, success, and the tough times. He was getting the spotlight probably before he had truly earned the right to that spotlight. 

But the fact that, even during those tough times, his teammates had his back and never turned on him, that shows to me he’s doing the right things. He’s working hard, he’s practicing hard, he’s a good teammate, he’s good in the locker room, he’s studying—he’s doing all the things he should be doing. I’m excited for him this year and for what’s to come.