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Billionaire investor Marc Lasry believes professional tennis is “ripe for disruption”, and revealed he had discussed ideas for innovation with the sport’s officials. Speaking on the sidelines of the South China Morning Post’s Family Business Summit 2025 on Friday, Lasry said he thought leading figures in the game were open to change. “I have talked to the folks there, and we are trying to do a couple of things,” he told the Post at the Rosewood Hong Kong hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, before taking part in a panel discussion on how owners are building sports empires. Global sport’s ultimate disrupter, LIV Golf, this week ceded to the establishment when it switched its tournaments from 54 holes to the traditional 72. In football, plans for a European Super League hit fierce resistance from fans as soon as they were aired in 2021. But Lasry, the former co-owner of NBA franchise the Milwaukee Bucks, said the potential for disruption in sport still existed, even if “it really is very hard”. Tentative moves to introduce tennis to new audiences have included the Ultimate Tennis Showdown, a shorter, faster format that came to Hong Kong for a tournament last month. “I think tennis is ripe for disruption, I really do,” Lasry said. “It’s hard, because you have the four majors and all the other tournaments beneath, but if you were setting it up today, you wouldn’t set it up the way it is now. “Change is hard, but I do think [tennis] is a huge opportunity.” Lasry sold his Bucks stake in 2023, making a large profit on his 2014 investment. The diverse portfolio of his Avenue Sports Fund (ASF) includes stakes in teams in TGL – the new golf league formed by Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods – along with SailGP and MotoGP. He has financial interests in pickleball brand BayPickle, the Major League Baseball franchise Baltimore Orioles, and the Como and Bristol City women’s football teams. ASF has also invested in English second-tier football club Ipswich Town. A board member at Ipswich, Lasry said he supported spending restrictions imposed on the division’s clubs, who are not permitted to lose more than £39 million (US$51 million) over a rolling three-year period. In the Premier League, where Ipswich spent last season, that figure climbs to £105 million. Despite having his potential outlay capped, Lasry is an advocate for the regulations. “They don’t mean you can’t compete … if you have a great management team and are good at picking talent, you’ll end up doing very well,” Lasry said. “Spending hundreds of millions of dollars doesn’t mean you’ll win. “Investing in a sports team is always a gamble. Your best player can get hurt and that’s your season done. If you sign a player who’s not as good as you thought, it’s a real issue because you’ve just spent a lot of money. “It’s hard to stay in the Premier League. In any sport, it’s hard to maintain a level of excellence, but if you can do that, it’s shocking how well you can do. “The great thing about sport is that you’re on a level playing field.” Lasry said he was exploring football and basketball investment opportunities in Asia, and had attended last month’s NBA China Games between the Brooklyn Nets and the Phoenix Suns in Macau. The Nets are owned by Joe Tsai, chairman of Alibaba Group, which owns the South China Morning Post, and Lasry said the pair had “a great partnership”. “He [Tsai] is our eyes and ears in Asia, and he’s introduced us to a couple of deals we’ve been looking at,” Lasry said. “I could see it happening [in Hong Kong], but right now it’s easier in mainland China. There are also huge opportunities in India with cricket and other sports.” Lasry said being honest with supporters was integral to successful and sustainable team ownership. “Sport is the only business where if you’re not doing well but the fans believe you’re doing the right thing, you’ll still be supported,” he said. “If you use a product that doesn’t work, or is always broken, you’ll get rid of it. But you’ll be a lifelong fan. “The only thing you want is to be told the truth, and to not be taken advantage of. You won’t mind a 5 to 10 per cent ticket price rise, but if it was 50 per cent, you’d be livid.” Lasry said that sport had a unique selling point in that “it’s the only thing you want to watch live”. “You’re not going to record all your team’s games and binge-watch them,” he said. “Before Covid, people were in the office five days a week, so they had two days for sport. Now it’s three or four days for sport, so we’ll have even more demand.” “I love sport,” he said. “We’re in the first innings of investing in sport, and there’s going to be big opportunities over the next five to 10 years.”
