Los Angeles-based Brett Johnson and his twin brother, Grant, set up their family office in 2005 under the umbrella of their firm, Benevolent Capital. Before starting Benevolent Capital, Johnson was president of the computing solutions company Targus, where he was actively involved in the sale of the business to a private equity firm. Johnson is passionate about sports as an alternative asset class.
How do you and your brother divide your roles at Benevolent Capital?
It’s a multiasset fund. We set up SPVs [special purpose vehicles] for everything spanning venture capital, private equity, professional soccer and real estate. Grant does the heavy lift on venture capital and private equity, and I do sports and real estate.
Why soccer?
When I worked at Targus, I had the opportunity to move to London and run all the international business. That gave me a front-row seat to soccer being the global religion.
A decade ago in Phoenix, I co-founded the United Soccer League (USL), which is second division. From that success, I was part of an ownership group that acquired a prominent club in England called Ipswich Town, which is currently in second place in the Championship League.
Sports franchises aren’t for the faint of heart, but increasingly, family offices are looking to sports as an alternative asset class. It’s a great way to get into the most popular sport in the world, especially in the lead-up to the World Cup coming to the U.S. in 2026.
What’s driving family office interest in sports?
Professional sports is becoming more democratized. There are more ways to invest in it than before, and soccer is rapidly increasing in popularity among Americans. Being involved with a sports franchise with your family gives investors a tangibility that other investments don’t. I've been blessed with teams that have done well, but I treat them as businesses. That said, as an investor, it's exciting to sit at a game or stream it in your living room.
Historically, it wasn't so easy to invest. Increasingly, there are opportunities in what I'll call emerging leagues, the USL among them. You need to put a very, very good dose of due diligence into these because many are losing money.
What’s your approach to sports teams as assets?
I'm obsessed with creating sustainability with sports enterprises, which comes via multiple revenue streams — sponsorships; merchandise; sports betting; rights to players; buying and selling, which is an $8 billion market; and real estate development. When I look at a market, one of the most important things is whether there’s a real estate development opportunity, because it’s an added driver of returns on the overall platform.
The USL is becoming a development league for young players because they get better-quality minutes in front of bigger crowds than anywhere else. So we sign talented young players, give them a season or two to perform and then look to sell them to bigger and better clubs. That's a substantial line item that goes right to the bottom line. We expect that to be a seven-figure-plus driver every single year in terms of revenue.
What investment are you most excited about right now?
We’re launching a new team and building a stadium in Rhode Island, which will be state-of-the-art with 11,000 seats initially. We're also going to launch a women's team. The stadium will be soccer-specific, with capacity to host other rectangle sports like American football, rugby and concerts. It’s a perfect-size venue for New England — which really only has Gillette Stadium, where the [National Football League's New England] Patriots play, which is too big for events; or smaller university stadiums, which are generally not well-located.
The economic impact of the project is staggering. It's a private-public partnership that’s completely transforming prime riverfront real estate that was very polluted. There will be substantial housing surrounding the stadium, and it will be an area where people want to work, live and play when it’s finished in the next five to 10 years.