Delaware North Joins Seregh in ‘Trillion-Dollar’ Opportunity
By Eben Novy-Williams
Delaware North and LionTree are investing in Seregh, which aims to spend more than $100 billion to develop real estate around sports venues worldwide.
Seregh founder and CEO Jonathan Fascitelli believes real estate around stadiums and arenas is a “trillion-dollar market opportunity.” His company now has new capital to pursue it.
Seregh announced on Thursday morning strategic investments from Delaware North, the hospitality and venue management company led by the owners of the Boston Bruins, and merchant bank LionTree. They join a cap table that already included Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE) and CAA.
In addition to the funds, the new backers are bringing their venue expertise and relationships across global sports. Delaware North’s sports venues include Green Bay’s Lambeau Field, London’s Wembley Stadium, Atlanta’s Truist Park and the Melbourne Cricket Ground. (The company’s COO, Amy Latimer is an existing Seregh board member.) LionTree’s advisory practice has done deals across media, technology and sports.
“The moves that we’re making and the caliber of the partners we’re bringing on is a recognition of the size of the opportunity,” Fascitelli said in an interview.
While he declined to comment on the size of the investment, Fascitelli said the group is aiming for $3 billion to $5 billion of development for each of its large-scale projects, and that it eventually aims to put $100 billion behind the strategy.
Delaware North and the Bruins were early to recognize the financial opportunity in these projects. In 2013, the group embarked on a $1.1 billion mixed-use development adjacent to the Delaware North-owned TD Garden. The Hub on Causeway has office space, a movie theater, a hotel and residences, providing revenue 365 days a year, as opposed to the more seasonal nature of most sports team business.
“There’s certainly been a proliferation of teams looking outside their four walls,” Latimer said in an interview. “They’re trying to increase dwell time and share of wallet.”
There will be specific opportunities for Delaware North to run hospitality in some elements of new Seregh developments, such as food halls or restaurants.
Seregh, pronounced “surge,” is an acronym of Sports and Entertainment Real Estate Global Holdings. Fascitelli was previously the CEO of HBSE Real Estate, and Seregh was spun out of HBSE last year.
Its main thesis, Fascitelli said, is that real estate development is top of mind for franchise owners across the globe, but that most teams can’t build their own development arms or be solely responsible for the billions it might require to fully fund a project. Seregh can handle the development and assist if needed with capital solutions.
“This is its own asset class.,” he said. “We’re effectively the development capabilities as well as the private equity.”