Excelsm
Unicorn exit · $1BAcquired2 known investors
A sports talent and marketing agency that represents athletes, coaches, executives, and media personalities while providing brand strategy, experiential marketing, content, and partnership services. It also offers property services including sponsorship sales, executive search, analytics, and events.
Also known as Excel · Excel Search & Advisory · Excel Sports Management
Investors · 2
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Excel Sports Management is a full-service sports management, marketing and talent representation agency founded in 2002 by Jeff Schwartz and headquartered at 1700 Broadway in New York City, with additional offices in Beverly Hills, California and Miami, Florida. The firm began as a basketball management and marketing business and expanded in 2011 into a multi-sport agency when baseball agent Casey Close and golf agent Mark Steinberg joined, bringing clients such as Derek Jeter and Tiger Woods. It has since added football, media talent, women's sports, and coaches and executives representation.
Beyond athlete representation, Excel works with brands and properties on sponsorship sales, brand marketing, event management and executive search. Its property-side work includes naming rights and on-uniform (jersey patch) partnerships with teams in the NBA, MLS, MLB, NHL and NFL, and it lists working relationships with clubs including the Atlanta Hawks, Austin FC, Boston Celtics, Charlotte Hornets, Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets, Minnesota Timberwolves and Nashville SC. Stated areas of expertise include athlete marketing, contract negotiation, premium hospitality, and sponsorship and hospitality sales. Block Six Analytics is listed as a subsidiary. A separate unit, Excel Search & Advisory, operates as an executive search and leadership advisory practice for the sports, media and entertainment industries, covering corporate, sporting and university searches plus advisory services such as organizational transition, onboarding and alignment, performance optimization, cultural transformation and strategic planning.
Founding story
Founder Jeff Schwartz, a Miami University graduate with a law degree from Temple University, clerked for a federal bankruptcy judge and practiced commercial litigation before joining IMG in 1992, where he managed tennis players including Pete Sampras, Marcelo Ríos and Martina Hingis. He founded Excel Sports Management in 2002 and leads strategy for its basketball division.
Business model
Excel operates as an agency, representing athletes, coaches, executives and media personalities in contract and endorsement negotiations while also serving brands and sports properties with marketing, sponsorship sales, hospitality, event management and executive search services.
Traction
Reported client rosters range from around 180 clients with $4 billion in active contracts to roughly 750 clients as of the November 2025 transaction, spanning baseball, basketball, football and golf. Named clients include Nikola Jokić, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, Kristaps Porziņģis, Tyler Herro, Cade Cunningham, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Caitlin Clark, Tiger Woods, Jared Goff and Cal Raleigh. The founder has negotiated more than $8 billion in contracts and arranged endorsement deals with Nike, Under Armour, Adidas, 361°, Spalding, AT&T, KIA and Red Bull.
Latest developments
In November 2025, Goldman Sachs' private equity arm agreed to acquire a majority stake in Excel, subject to regulatory approval, with terms undisclosed; the Financial Times had reported a valuation of close to $1 billion. Existing owners retained equity and founder/CEO Jeff Schwartz and the leadership team continue to run the company.
▸Full profile — market position, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Excel is described as an industry-leading sports agency and a perennial finalist for Sports Business Journal's Best in Talent Management Award, winning three times, most recently in 2024, and appears near the top of Forbes' Most Powerful Sports Agencies rankings. Its founder ranked first in basketball and second across all sports in Forbes' 2022 Most Powerful Sports Agents list. Peer transactions cited alongside Excel's sale include Creative Artists Agency's $7 billion sale and Endeavor's $25 billion take-private.
The firm combines athlete and talent representation with property-side services — sponsorship sales, brand marketing, hospitality, events, analytics via subsidiary Block Six Analytics, and executive search staffed with recruiters, management consultants and business psychologists drawn from global search firms, league offices and Olympic federations — within a single agency.
Go-to-market
Excel acquires business through senior agent relationships and divisional specialists across sports, supported by dedicated brand marketing, corporate partnership, hospitality, communications and speakers teams, and through team- and league-level mandates such as jersey patch and naming rights sales assignments.
Professional athletes across basketball, baseball, football and golf, plus coaches, executives and media talent; brands seeking endorsement and marketing programs; and teams, leagues, universities and Olympic federations seeking sponsorship sales, hospitality, events and executive search services.
Geography
Headquartered in New York City (1700 Broadway, 29th Floor), with offices in Beverly Hills, California and Miami, Florida. Its search practice describes a global network and has placed senior international leadership roles, with client references including Tottenham Hotspur FC.
History
Jeff Schwartz founded Excel Sports Management in 2002 as a full-service basketball management and marketing business after beginning his sports management career at IMG in 1992. In 2011 the agency became multi-sport with the additions of Casey Close (baseball) and Mark Steinberg (golf), later expanding into football, media talent, women's sports and coaches/executives representation. Shamrock Capital acquired an undisclosed minority stake in 2020. In November 2025, Goldman Sachs' private equity arm acquired a majority stake, with existing ownership retaining equity and Schwartz continuing to lead the business.
Risks & controversies
The Goldman Sachs majority-stake transaction remained subject to regulatory approval at the time of reporting. Coverage notes that large financial firms' expansion into sports has created complications elsewhere in the industry — for example, Silver Lake divested WME's basketball representation business and sold its NFL representation arm because of ownership ties to professional team cap tables — and Goldman has existing sports banking and team-transaction relationships.
Compiled by commissioned research from 7 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 5
launches, deals, and filingsGoldman Sachs' private equity arm acquired a majority stake in Excel Sports Management, with existing ownership retaining equity. Financial terms were not disclosed and the deal remained subject to regulatory approval. The Financial Times had previously reported a valuation of close to $1 billion. Excel leadership, including founder and CEO Jeff Schwartz, was to continue running the business.
Excel won Sports Business Journal's Best in Talent Management Award, its third win, most recently in 2024; the agency is a perennial finalist.
The Atlanta Hawks turned to Excel Sports Management to find a new jersey patch partner, per SportsPro coverage cited in the company's founder profile.
Shamrock Capital purchased a minority stake in Excel Sports Management for an undisclosed figure.
Founder Jeff Schwartz expanded Excel beyond basketball by adding baseball agent Casey Close and golf agent Mark Steinberg, who brought clients including Derek Jeter and Tiger Woods to the agency.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 7
primary sources listed
- ExcelSM Search & Advisory: Search - Excel Sports Managementsearch.excelsm.com · web
7 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Excelsm do?
- Excel Sports Management is a New York-based full-service athlete representation, brand marketing and sports property agency founded in 2002.
- Who are Excelsm's investors?
- Excelsm's investors include Advancit Capital, Shamrock Capital.