The "increasingly aggressive" off-the-field business
ventures of pro athletes are profiled by FORTUNE's Roy
Johnson, who writes that today's athletes could eventually
"become the newest Internet zillionaires." Johnson notes
the case of former NFLers Harris Barton and Ronnie Lott, co-
Founders of Champion Ventures, whose investor list includes
Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Wayne Gretzky, Barry Bonds and Drew
Bledsoe. When the $40M investment fund was formed last
year, Barton and Lott "persuaded 13 of the most prestigious
venture capital firms in the Silicon Valley to invite
Champion to invest in their funds" by leveraging "the power
of sports celebrity to perfection." A general partner at
one of the participating venture capital firms, on Champion:
"It's essentially a mutual fund of 13 of the best venture
capital firms around. I'm not sure the athletes realize
this, but Champion is one of the best investment vehicles on
the planet." The fund recently paid off for the athletes
when Nortel Networks acquired private startup Xros, which
Champion owned a stake in via one of the venture capital
firms. When the deal closes, Champion "will make its first
distribution to shareholders, each of whom invested a
minimum of $250,000 in the fund." One venture capitalist
familiar with the deal estimates that Champion's investors
"will earn between" a 30- and 35-to-one return on their Xros
investment. Johnson writes that interest in Champion has
been so high from other athletes that Barton and Lott
"created a second fund" that will "probably close in June
with more than" $100M (FORBES, 5/15 issue).
