Sports Stocks Post Best Year Since 2020 as Betting Powers Rally

Sports stocks gained 18% in 2024, tallying the sector’s best year since 2020. The Sportico Sports Stock Index closed the year at 1,361, led by three stocks more than doubling among two dozen components that posted double-digits gains for the year.

Sports benefited from the broader market trend of declining inflation and lower interest rates combined with firm corporate profits, enough to drive the S&P 500 up 23% on the year. But beyond general economic tailwinds, sports stocks found themselves buoyed by international developments. That was especially true for sports wagering shares, which benefited from strong trends in Latin and South America. Sportsbooks were among the best investments of the year, with Rush Street Interactive (RSI) claiming the laurel of sports’ best performing stock in 2024, more than tripling in the year to $13.72 a share.

“We continue to experience remarkable results in Latin American [with] fantastic trends in player counts and player value,” said Rush Street co-founder and CEO Richard Schwartz in an October call with investors. In the U.S., Rush Street is an also-ran in sports betting, with less than 2% market share as analysts believe the business has trouble holding onto bettors, according to a spring report in PYMTS.com, a financial services trade publication.

In Latin America though, Rush Street says its player retention is excellent and average customer value is on the rise, as revenue from bettors outpaces the marketing spend to acquire them. Latin American revenue nearly doubled in its last reported quarter, with results through the year helped by the Copa and Euro soccer tournaments.  Similarly, Super Group (SGHC), parent of the global Betway sportsbook, benefited from South American exposure after abandoning the U.S. sports betting market during the year—its shares gained 107% in 2024. And both businesses haven’t even broached expanding into Brazil, which begins its regulated sports betting market today and is expected to grow into a $10 billion market in five years—nearly the size of the American market today.

Amer Sports (AS) was the sector’s second-best stock of 2024, rallying 115% after its January IPO. The parent of Wilson, Salomon and Arc’teryx, Amer has been riding a wave of enthusiasm over late summer stimulus efforts in mainland China, where the company is focused on finding growth as outdoor clothing and racket sports meet receptive consumers.

Overall 25 of the Sportico index’s 40 components rose in the year, with the Roger Federer-backed On Holding (ONON) posting the third-best performance. The sneaker maker rose 103% in 2024, finishing at $54.76. Scoreboard maker Daktronics (DAKT, up 99%) and UFC and WWE parent TKO Group (TKO, up 74%) rounded out the top performers.

The advance in the index came even as December saw sports stocks retreat about 4%, following the broader market’s easing with uncertainty over economic policy under the incoming presidential administration.

The worst performer for the month and the year was independent streaming outfit Fubo (FUBO), which lost 21% in December and 60% for the year. The sports-centric bundler remains under pressure from pending competition from Walt Disney (DIS, up 25% in 2024), Fox (FOX, up 68%) and Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD, down 7%; not an index component). Even though Fubo has been successful in court, gaining a temporary injunction preventing a planned streaming service from launching, it continues to struggle with the cost and availability of certain channels. For example, TNT and TBS aren’t available on the platform, and TelevisaUnivision just pulled its slate of Spanish language channels from the service last month. Canadian conglomerates BCE, Inc. (BCE, down 32%) and Blue Jays owner Rogers Communications (RCI, down 30%) were the second- and third-worst performers in the year, impacted in part by a 8% decline in the value of the loonie compared to the greenback.

The Sportico Sports Stock Index periodically drops and adds companies from its 40-stock basket as needed. In the case of BCE, it’s being dropped entering 2025 because the telecom company is selling its 35.7% stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment to Rogers. The $3.5 billion deal means BCE will be out of sports ownership and Rogers will have a commanding 75% of MLSE, which owns the NHL’s Maple Leafs, NBA’s Raptors and MLS’s Toronto FC. 

Also being dropped from the index is Endeavor Group Holdings (EDR, up 33%). The parent of athlete representation businesses and the majority owner of TKO is going private in early 2025, in a deal led by Silver Lake with participation of Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and billionaire Michael Dell.

Added to the index to start the new year are Topgolf Callaway Brands (MODG), which owns golf equipment brands Callaway and Odyssey, the Topgolf chain of golf entertainment locations and clothing brands including TravisMathew and Jack Wolfskin. Also joining the stock barometer is Ferrari (RACE). Most of Ferrari’s business is selling luxury cars to consumers, but 10% of its revenue comes from competing in Formula 1. Given the F1 segment is fast growing—up about 20% the past year—Ferrari relies on its sports segment for a significant portion of its sales growth and brand identity.

The Sportico Sports Stock Index is a basket of companies that rely on sports for most of their business or for a significant percentage of growth. It’s equal weighted, which means quarterly each stock is reset to 2.5% value in the index. The index includes sports teams, including the Atlanta Braves (BATRA, down 5% in 2024), financial services providers like Shift4 Payments (FOUR, up 40%) and concessionaire Aramark (ARMK up 34%). To be included in the index stocks must be trading on a U.S. exchange in sufficient daily volume and have a market capitalization of $50 million or more. Sportico launched the index at 1,000 in August 2020. After gaining 42% in 2020, the index slipped 1% in 2021 and fell a further 32% in 2022. In 2023, it gained 10%. Overall, the sports industry, as represented by the Sportico index, is up 36% since mid-2020.