The Seattle business leaders and brothers Ted and Chris Ackerley recently announced the Ackerley Sports Group, a new investment arm of their longtime firm Ackerley Partners.
The company plans to invest in teams, leagues, and growth-stage companies.
The Ackerley brothers are part-owners of Seattle’s NHL franchise, the Seattle Kraken, which was introduced two years ago.
This year they became owners and partners of Leeds United Football Club, a top English soccer franchise that recently shifted majority ownership to 49ers Enterprises, which owns the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers.
Sports runs deep in the Ackerley family. Ted and Chris are the sons of the late Barry Ackerley, a Seattle businessman and founder of The Ackerley Group media company, which owned the NBA’s Seattle Supersonics for 18 years. Barry and Ginger Ackerley, his wife, founded the WNBA’s Seattle Storm in 2000.
The Ackerley brothers are also involved in a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, called ESH Acquisition Corp. that is targeting an enterprise in the entertainment, sports, and hospitality sectors. It closed an IPO in June, raising $115 million.
Ackerley Partners was formed after The Ackerley Group sold to Clear Channel Communications in 2002 for more than $800 million. The firm, now led by Ted and Chris, has backed various Seattle tech startups in addition to other investments.
