The Redwoods Lacrosse Club was one of the founder teams in the new Premier Lacrosse League (PLL).
The Redwoods team is not a franchise with separate owners. Instead, the club belongs to the Premier Lacrosse League which is owned by a group of investors.
This article explains the ownership structure of the Redwoods and gives a rundown of the main shareholders.
Who Owns The Redwoods Lacrosse Team In The PLL?
The Redwoods Lacrosse Club is owned by Premier Lacrosse League, inc.
It is one of eight professional teams in common ownership by PLL, a private company with significant investment from shareholders including:
- Paul and Mike Rabil (co-founders)
- Blum Capital
- CAA Sports
- Chernin Group
- Raine Group
- David O’Connor
- Joe Tsai
- Kraft Group
- Bolt Ventures
- Chris Hogan
- Fortress Investment Group
- Harris Blitzer Entertainment Group
- Sol Kumin
The lengthy list of co-owners above doesn’t include all the minority shareholders, but these are the main advisors.
All players in the league also have some equity in the holding company. The level of their ownership stakes hasn’t been made public.
Paul and Mike Rabil are two brothers who co-founded the PLL in 2018 after seeking several major investors to support the new venture.
There were four initial backers: the Raine Group, the Chernin Group, CAA, and Blum Capital.
In this article, I’ll look at these four minority owners of the Redwoods Lacrosse Club.
The Raine Group, Minority Owner
The Raine Group is a merchant bank that both invests in ventures and provides advice to entrepreneurs.
If you’re wondering where the lacrosse connection is, you don’t need to look further than the head of their sports investment division. Colin Neville played lacrosse at Yale University in the early to mid-2000s.
Neville had led the company’s investment in DraftKings, the online sports betting platform. He got involved very early on with the Rabil brothers, even before they decided to launch a new league.
Paul and Mike Rabil had initially wanted to buy and restructure the Major Lacrosse League. They put together an investment group in 2017 and had extensive talks with the MLL directors throughout the year.
Neville and the Raine Group were involved as advisors to the Rabils during that time.
When the brothers gave up on a purchase and wanted to raise money for a new league, the Raine Group led the initial round of funding.
Colin Neville is also on the board of directors of the PLL.
The Chernin Group, Minority Owner
The Chernin Group is a private equity firm in Los Angeles, California. It was founded by Peter Chernin, who spent many years as a top executive in media and entertainment companies.
When Chernin was head of Twentieth Century Fox, they produced Avatar and Titanic. I love one of those films, and will forgive him for the other! He also steered Fox into sports.
Chernin set up his own company in 2010. The Chernin Group also invests in films, with Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes under its belt.
Like the Raine Group, they have also invested in sports betting.
They own a substantial percentage of the Barstool Sports website. They also set up The Action Network, which is a website that focuses on sports betting.
This may have influenced the PLL to be very comfortable with encouraging sports betting. Paul Rabil is on record for saying that the league would embrace betting to “improve the fan experience”.
CAA Sports, Minority Owner
The Creative Artists Agency (CAA) was founded in 1975 with a focus to represent entertainers and actors in music, television, and film.
Their stars included Will Ferrell and Chris Pratchett before the two left for a rival agency in a move that caused ructions within the industry.
CAA Sports was set up in 2006 to represent athletes and sports players. If you’re into football, they have an impressive roster in the NFL in recent years.
Michael Levine is the co-head of CAA Sports and is one of the most influential sports agencies in the United States. He has signed stars from the NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB.
So, why would he take an interest in a less high-profile sport like lacrosse? Well, Levine was a lacrosse player at Cornell University.
As well as arranging the company’s investment into the PLL, Levine sits on the advisory board of the league.
Blum Capital, Minority Owner
Blum Capital is the last of the four early investors we’re running through in this article. They are also the least interesting to my eyes!
They are an investment management firm based in San Francisco. The company was founded by Robert Blum, whose earlier career is actually far more interesting.
Before setting up his own firm, Blum worked as an investment broker for another company. That was where he put together a deal to acquire the Ringling Brothers and the Barnum & Bailey Circus. Remember them? This was way back in 1967.
He bought the circuses for $8 million and sold them to Mattel four years later for $50 million. That was quite a multiple!
To bring us up to date, Blum Capital invested in the PLL in the first round of fund-raising by the Rabil brothers. That leads them to be in our article on owners of Redwoods Lacrosse Club.
Other Investors?
If you want write-ups on all the investors, check out our review of ownership of the Premier Lacrosse League.
