On September 30, Overtime, the New York sports media company that built its audience on Gen Z and Gen Alpha fans and now runs its own youth leagues, announced a new strategic investment led by Eldridge Capital Management, the asset management division of Todd Boehly's Eldridge. Neither side disclosed the size of the round or a valuation. Overtime says the money will support premium content, technology, commerce, live sports properties, and strategic partnerships.
Most of the coverage led with Boehly's name and the audience numbers Overtime packed into the announcement. The fact that says more is what Overtime actually owns: Overtime Elite and Overtime Select in basketball, plus OT7 and Overtime Nationals in football. Eldridge's sports money mostly sits in team stakes, so the check lines up with backing owned youth competitions the way a franchise investor backs a club.
A Team-Ownership Investor Picked a Company With Its Own Leagues
Eldridge Capital Management's sports and entertainment funds held $200.8 million in assets under management as of May, according to Sports Business Journal. SBJ also reported Eldridge stakes in the Los Angeles Dodgers, Lakers, and Sparks, along with earlier investments in Fanatics, FEVO, Fulwell, Religion of Sports, and Vivid Seats. That's a book that sits close to the teams themselves and to the businesses that grow up around them, and SBJ described the strategy behind it as a search for premium intellectual property.
Jeff Wilbur, Partner and Head of Sports and Entertainment at Eldridge Capital Management, used the same language when he explained why the firm wrote this check. He put the emphasis on what Overtime has built rather than how many people watch it:
"We believe Overtime has built a dynamic and culturally influential company across media and global sports. We feel the company has anticipated where fans are going, built authentic relationships with young audiences, and developed premium intellectual property that has attracted global partners."
Pair that framing with the leagues on Overtime's roster and the logic gets easier to follow. A highlights publisher rents its attention from the platforms it posts on, while a company that owns the competitions also controls the schedule and the sponsor inventory attached to it. That second position matches the kind of asset Eldridge already holds through its team stakes, and it likely explains why an investor with a team-heavy portfolio led this round.
The Term Sheet Stayed Private
The size of the check is the obvious gap. Overtime and Eldridge didn't disclose the round size, the valuation, the ownership stake, or whether a board seat came with the money, and the announcement attaches no Series letter to the financing. The last round with a public number was a $100 million Series D led by Liberty Media in 2022, per SBJ. That's the most recent price point the public record offers, so any figure attached to the Eldridge round today would be a guess.
Eldridge led this round, but it joins a long list of existing backers. The company counts Liberty Media, Andreessen Horowitz, Blackstone Strategic Partners, Bezos Expeditions, Drake, Kevin Durant, and Carmelo Anthony among its investors. Michael Spirito, Managing Partner of 359 Capital and an Overtime board member, welcomed Eldridge as a new partner in the announcement. Whether any existing holders also put money into this round is unstated.
Nothing in the record points to a change of control, and Eldridge is described throughout as the lead of a strategic round. The narrower read is still useful. A lead investor whose sports portfolio is built around owned teams chose to back a company whose stated use of proceeds names live sports properties next to content and commerce. That combination suggests the leagues are part of what Eldridge is paying for, even if the price itself stays off the page.
Overtime's Audience Numbers Come With Its Own Label
The announcement leans hard on reach. Overtime says it was the No. 1 TikTok account in the world by total views in May, and that it posted 6.2 billion views, 1.3 billion minutes watched, and 428 million engagements in June. The company also says a creator competition series it produced with FOX One drove more than 142 million views, and that it reaches more than 120 million followers globally. Those are company figures, and no third-party audit accompanies them.
The partner list works the same way. Overtime names adidas, State Farm, T-Mobile, Target, Hershey, and Gemini as brand partners, with collaborations across the NFL, NBA, WNBA, and NWSL and work with NBC and FOX One. The adidas name deserves its own flag. On September 24, Overtime and adidas extended a multi-year apparel deal across Overtime Elite, Overtime Select, and OT7. That agreement is separate from the Eldridge investment, and the two shouldn't be read as one transaction just because they landed close together.
Zack Weiner, Overtime's cofounder, framed the round as much around direction as around the business already built:
"This investment is a strong validation of the business we've built and, more importantly, where we're headed."
Where it's headed, by the company's own list, runs through live sports properties as much as through content. Overtime hasn't said how the new capital splits between the leagues and the media business, and it hasn't attached a dollar plan to Elite, Select, OT7, or Nationals.
Takeaways for Investors
The Price Tag Is Still Blank
No round size, valuation, ownership stake, board seat, or Series letter is on the record. The only hard comp is the $100 million Series D led by Liberty Media in 2022 that SBJ cited.
Eldridge Backs Assets It Can Own Around
Eldridge's sports book, per SBJ, runs through team stakes and the businesses built near them, and Wilbur's own framing centered on premium intellectual property. Overtime's owned leagues fit that pattern more closely than its follower count does.
Read Overtime's Metrics as Overtime's
The TikTok ranking, view totals, and follower count all come from the company's announcement. They describe reach as the company measures it, and they belong in any analysis with that label still on them.
Watch the Live Properties for the First Spend
The stated use of proceeds names live sports properties alongside content and commerce. The first expansion Overtime announces for Elite, Select, OT7, or Nationals will show how much of this round was about the leagues.
