Real Sports Investments

Post #1 » by **Basketball Jesus** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 9:33 pm

This is absolutely amazing. I caught this in a Q&A over at Baseball Prospectus the other day:

http://baseballprospectus.com/article.p ... cleid=7063

DL: You recently started a company with some of those experiences in mind. Tell us about it.

RN: The company is Real Sports Investments, LLC. We have a website, and it is the only place where people can invest in professional athletes. RSI contracts with athletes and gives them cash up front in exchange for a promise to pay a small agreed upon percentage of their future major league earnings, kind of like insurance. RSI then sells those future earnings to willing investors. We really focus on helping ease the financial burdens a lot of minor leaguers face while also creating a stronger baseball community by allowing fans to invest in players and hopefully help them reach the major leagues.

Here's the website:

https://www.realsportsinvestments.com/

Currently, Randy Newsom, the founder, is the only player you can buy shares of.

Post #2 » by **Chach** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 9:57 pm

I'm not going to lie, I dropped the $50 to buy two shares. Now I'm really going to be rooting for him to make it. In order to break even, the player needs to make over a million, meaning his first arbitration award will actually net you some profit. Two shares isn't enough to make any real money unless Newsom becomes the next Joe Borowski and gets a few multi million dollar deals out of it. It's just for fun.

The problem I potentially see coming up is that the guys drawn towards this are going to be guys like Newsom, who are fringe major leaguers who may carve out a decent career but you are not likely to see a Justin Upton caliber player buy into this. Upton, by everyone's opinion, is going to be a star in the league and make a fortune. If you could somehow buy stocks into his future, you would make a fortune. But that option is likely to never arrive because he already got a huge bonus check as a high round pick, he's not giving up 4% of his future earnings for a $50,000 check because that's his slush fund at home. I think you are going to see players like Dustin Pedroia, guys who can play ball but need that physical edge to carve out a shot in the big leagues. The only high caliber, high potential players that you are going to find getting into this program are 1)higher round draft picks that had languished in the minors for a bit like Chris Nelson from the Rockies. Had a ton of talent and is finally starting to put it together but he may need that extra financial help right now because he doesn't have much of a bonus check left. And the Latin kids could make up a very large portion of the player pool because $50,000 for them, with the attrition rate in the minors, could be very attractive. There are some holes in the plan me thinks but it is a wonderful idea and I can't wait to see them expand a bit. mahalo
~Chach~

hermes · Post #3 » by **hermes** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 5:27 pm

are they going to add more players
wonder if arod will get on there

Post #4 » by **HCYanks** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:17 pm

hermes wrote:are they going to add more players
wonder if arod will get on there

Nope. As Chach said, the only players who have incentive to get in on this kind of program are ones without any guarantee of a high profile career in the majors. That said, if this catches on it wouldn't be too surprising to see a few middling/marginal talents in the program hit their ceilings in the bigs and pay big dividends for investors. But overall, it's mainly just a fun new way for fans to follow the game, assuming the concept works. Hell, I might even sign on if/when I have some disposable income lying around.

Post #5 » by **Chach** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:29 pm

It's only going to be minor leaguers, if you are in the majors you can afford to go to API or hire a nutritionist. Or at worst, maybe get some sort of advance/credit deal with your team. It's a program for minor leaguers to get an advance on future earnings to help them get to the show. A lot of minor leaguers will buy into the program but first round draft picks or Latin bonus babies probably won't. Maybe someone who signs out of HS/JUCO for 2nd-3rd round money that has some talent but needs help (like a nutritionist and what not) may sign up because a trip to API may be the physical advantage needed to make it.

When they expand the player roster, if I were to invest actual money into it, I'd invest heavily in toolsy latin kids with a bit of plate discpline and maybe college players will old player skill sets (a Youkilis/Pedroia type player). mahalo
~Chach~

Post #6 » by **Bleeding Green** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 11:34 pm

I might get in on this to test my scouting ability. Randy Newsom, though? Eh.

Post #7 » by **HMFFL** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 1:44 am

Very interesting site, thank you BBJ. They should provide you with a share or two just for the traffic your going to send to the site by creating this topic.

WEFFPIM · Post #8 » by **WEFFPIM** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 2:40 am

Wow, very interesting stuff.

treyZz · Post #10 » by **Chach** » Tue Feb 5, 2008 6:29 pm

Update per BP:

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/unfiltered/?p=746

The most interesting part:

DL: Another report said that all money invested in RSI has been returned to the investors. Is that accurate, and if so, why?

RN: That is accurate. We have decided to slow down and partner with Major League Baseball in order to develop a system that will work for the entire baseball community. We believe that it would not be fair to keep the money of our members without a concrete timeline. We felt it would be best to refund all of our shareholders