How an influential businesswoman and a former NFL president are changing women's sports investment

New York Times

18-04-2025

Mellody Hobson has been investing for a long time, but only recently has she found herself in the spotlight.
After graduating from Princeton University, the Chicago native began at Ariel Investments, a firm that manages billions of dollars in investments, as an intern and has worked her way up to co-CEO. She is a director for JPMorgan Chase and a former chair of the Starbucks Corporation. In 2015, Time magazine named her one of its '100 Most Influential People.'
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However, her sports portfolio kickstarted with a quiet investment in the Chicago White Sox. Hobson, 56, kept most of her investments private, including her stake in the WNBA, until three years ago when she made history as one of the first Black owners in the NFL as part of the Denver Broncos ownership.
'I'm not one to have my name thrown around,' Hobson said. 'With the Broncos, when we made that investment, being public was a requirement, so that's when I sort of came out of the shadows.'
As her investments grew, with stakes in burgeoning leagues like League One Volleyball, or LOVB, she continued to look for opportunities that were rooted in purpose and fueled by the relationships with those around her. So, when a friend approached her with advice to invest in women's sports, Hobson listened.
'One of my favorite lines of all time, which I say regularly at Ariel, is 'Math has no opinion,'' Hobson said. 'The math on sports is compelling, and the math on women's sports, I think, is even more compelling.
'The valuations are very different than those in men's sports. … At the same time, the growth story behind women's sports is inarguable.'
Her recent investment in Denver NWSL, the latest expansion team to join the league, marked the first investment made through Project Level, a fund she's been building at Ariel since 2023. The group's sole initiative is to 'level the playing field' for women and girls through investment and ownership.
While influential on her own, Hobson also has an interesting personal life. She sometimes references her husband, George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars and Indiana Jones, in passing, and has anecdotes that include their friend, the late Francis Coppola, who directed The Godfather.
'My husband said something to me today that was so funny at breakfast,' Hobson told The Athletic in a recent interview, before quickly interjecting. 'I know you know he makes movies.'
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She continued, 'Francis Coppola once had an interview where he was asked, 'If you were lost in the woods, what one person would you take to help you get out?' Francis in the interview said George, full stop.'
Lucas asked who she'd take.
One of those people, Hobson said, matter-of-factly, would be Jason Wright, the former president of the NFL's Washington Commanders, whom she works closely with to run Project Level. Wright, a former NFL running back and the league's first Black president, is serving as Project Level's managing partner and head of investments.
Hobson met Wright last September when he spoke at the Black Corporate Directors Conference. He was actively looking for his next landing spot after the Commanders when Hobson reeled him in. As she tells it, she made a 'beeline' to Wright. Wright remembers her saying to him, 'We need to talk.'
The pair scheduled to meet in New York, where Hobson initiated a brainstorming session to discuss the potential of a women's sports fund.
'By the time I was in it and shaping it, I realized … there's no way I can't do this,' Wright told The Athletic. It didn't matter that he had other job opportunities that were further along.
Wright is an important piece to Project Level's puzzle, Hobson says, especially for Denver NWSL. He brings on-the-ground experience, having navigated the Commanders through a time of crisis. That means he's able to build a foundation for the team's future. He is also drawn to women's sports, having grown up a fan of the Los Angeles Sparks. His father, Wright said, was 'really ahead of the curve on that.'
In 1997, during the WNBA's inaugural season, Wright remembers how his family couldn't afford to see the Los Angeles Lakers in Southern California.
'I think folks in our neighborhood maybe shared two Lakers tickets amongst 12 families,' Wright said. 'You couldn't afford it, and so (the Sparks) was an accessible way for us, as a family, to create these memories and experiences.'
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Players like WNBA star Lisa Leslie became his sports heroes. He remembers Leslie's famous dunk against the New York Liberty, the first in WNBA history. In his father's TV room, there's still a Sparks pendant from 1999 sitting on the wall.
'I remember all of this stuff, and they're core memories for me,' Wright said. 'I know the power of women's sports to unite a family, and it gave me a perspective on women athletes as peers to male athletes, which is now proving true.'
More recently, Wright went to Washington Spirit games with his family while at the Commanders. He talked with Spirit owner Michele Kang and her staff in hopes of finding ways the two teams could partner, either through joint plans for a practice facility or a new stadium development. Years before Kim Stone became the Spirit's first-ever CEO, Wright tried to hire Stone at the Commanders when she was still at the Golden State Warriors. 'She turned me down,' Wright said, with a laugh. 'I fought hard.'
Hobson and Wright have been working around the clock for Project Level.
'We both have bags under our eyes,' Hobson joked. Wright is focused on the deal side of things, while Hobson is more focused on money raising. Hobson has described herself as the chief fundraiser and head cheerleader as they target high-net-worth families.
It's been all hands on deck, especially with Denver NWSL as they build a team from the ground up. Hobson serves as the club's alternate governor, second to Rob Cohen, the controlling owner.
Wright says working with Hobson has improved his instincts.
'I'm very hyper logical and almost stoic in my decision-making process,' Wright says. 'Mellody really brings in the qualitative factor in addition to those hard facts. It's really important that she feels that someone you're going into business with shares your values.
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'She notices a whole set of factors that aren't necessarily on my radar.'
That's evident in her journey to Denver NWSL.
As Cohen tells it, the insurance executive with deep ties to Denver made his beeline to Hobson when they first met. Hobson, too, had just spoken at a conference. Cohen remembers telling her, 'I've got to talk to you about a women's professional team in Denver.' He did not know Hobson already was looking for potential investment opportunities in women's sports.
'The interesting thing about Denver,' Hobson said, 'they didn't need money. Their cap table was all set. They reset it for us. Over time, as we were doing our due diligence and the like, it all came together, and, by January, we were standing alongside them as the second largest investor.'
Cohen and his ties to the community were a key reason Project Level signed on to be a part of Denver NWSL. Hobson also has strong ties to the city. She describes Denver Mayor Mike Johnston as a longtime friend, which may be useful as the club navigates the costs of building a temporary and permanent stadium in the area.
Hobson said Project Level 'wanted to be in major league sports,' and the timing aligned well with Denver NWSL, which was deep in the expansion process when they signed on. The fund is also interested in the WNBA and Women's Super League in England.
'We'd like to be multiple-team owners in those leagues,' Wright said. 'Right now, we're focused on one team in each, so we can grow them, see them win championships, and then figure out if it makes sense to do more. But we'd like to be there over time.'
Project Level is also keen on investing in youth development and the 'broader ecosystem that supports women's sports,' Wright said, like an analytics company that can analyze media rights and sponsorship values.
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Last week, Project Level announced its second investment as a fund with a minority equity investment in LOVB, which has a youth model and an emerging pro league. Wright called it a 'complementary' investment to their initial investment in Denver.
As Hobson puts it, she expects her group to remain headstrong in women's sports investments.
'I want to be a firm where, if it's happening in women's sports, we know about it, we've seen it, and we have an opportunity to be a part of a deal,' Hobson said. 'And that's exactly what's happening.'