Gabelli Funds rolls out sports ETF under ticker symbol GOLS
Speakers
Chris Marangi
— Co-CIO, Gabelli Funds
Summary
Chris Marangi, Value Co-CIO at Gabelli Funds, discusses the newly launched sports-focused ETF GOLS. He argues sports franchises and live entertainment are attractive long-term stores of value with pricing power, recurring revenue, and low capital intensity, and that the theme is AI-insulated. He highlights cash-flow-positive public sports assets like the Atlanta Braves, MSG, and Formula 1, and sports media exposure like Versant, while noting the ETF has no explicit sports-gambling plays.
- Gabelli launched a sports-focused ETF under ticker GOLS.
- Chris Marangi says live entertainment and sports is a long-running investment theme.
- He argues big-four U.S. team values compounded about 15% annually, outperforming the S&P 500.
- Sports teams can have fan-driven pricing power, recurring revenue, and low capital intensity.
- The ETF is actively managed and covers public teams, leagues, promotions, venues, data, and media.
- Marangi says Braves, MSG, and Formula 1 are cash-flow positive and stores of value.
- He views sports media rights as supported by global viewership trends.
- The ETF has no explicit sports-gambling plays, though gambling has helped viewership.
Ideas
Live sports is a durable value theme.
The Gabelli sports-focused ETF GOLS targets live entertainment and sports, a long-term theme: the aggregate value of teams in the big four U.S. leagues compounded about 15% annually over the past dozen years, better than the S&P 500. Many teams have attractive business traits because customers are fans, giving pricing power, recurring revenue, and low capital intensity. The ETF is actively managed and invests in about 30 publicly traded teams, leagues, and promotions plus the broader sports ecosystem, including venue owners, sports data companies, and media companies. Live sports is also AI-insulated because players cannot be replaced on the field, making it a good complement to AI-dominated portfolios.
Cash-flow-positive sports franchises are stores of value.
Chris says that while sports teams are often viewed as assets whose values rise but may not produce operating profit, the Braves, MSG, and Formula 1 are actually cash-flow positive. They are run to grow asset value over time and are stores of value. He also says he was happy owning a lot of the Atlanta Braves Baseball Club in April 2025, supporting these cash-generating public sports assets.
Sports media rights remain undervalued.
The broader sports ecosystem includes media companies such as Versant, and Chris argues sports rights are not necessarily overvalued because live sports drives global viewership. He notes that seven of the top ten programs last year were sporting events despite an election year, and it would have been ten out of ten in an election year, supporting sports media owners like Versant.
