Todd Boehly, co-founder and chairman of Eldridge Industries, may not be widely known in Korea, but his influence spans global sports, media, and finance. As the owner of Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers, the National Basketball Association’s Los Angeles Lakers, and English Premier League club Chelsea FC, Boehly oversees teams boasting stars like Shohei Ohtani and LeBron James. Boehly is also a major player in the media and entertainment industry, with Billboard, Variety, Rolling Stone and the Golden Globe Awards under his umbrella.
Eldridge Industries, which Boehly founded in 2015, holds over 100 portfolio companies across sports, entertainment, insurance, technology, consumer goods, real estate, and asset management. After attending the MLB season opener in Tokyo on March 18–19, Boehly traveled to South Korea and gave his first-ever interview with Korean media, speaking to ChosunBiz in Seoul on March 21.
Boehly said the unmatched excitement of watching live sports is what draws him to invest in the industry. His approach is straightforward: build a strong, winning team that keeps fans coming back, and the financial results will follow. It’s a cycle of big investment, team success, growing fan support, and rising team value.
He also shared his growing interest in K-pop as a major force in global entertainment. Reflecting on his investment journey, he named Pizza Hut as a painful failure and Shohei Ohtani as the most rewarding player acquisition.
Below is the full Q&A with Boehly.
When did you arrive in South Korea?
“I arrived on the night of March 19, right after the MLB Tokyo Series. Over the past two days, I have met with executives from major corporations, pension funds, insurance companies, music labels, and ultra-high-net-worth investors. After wrapping up my schedule in Seoul, I will be heading to Hong Kong and Singapore.”
Are you exploring business opportunities in Asia?
“We are looking to figure out where the best opportunities are for Eldridge. In January, Eldridge Industries launched Eldridge, an asset management and insurance holding company with about $72 billion in assets under management. Eldridge consists of two divisions: Eldridge Capital Management, which focuses on corporate credit, structured credit, GP solutions, and sports and entertainment, and Eldridge Wealth Solutions, which is based on its insurance companies, Security Benefit and Everly Life.
We are continuously seeking long-term partnerships with companies worldwide, including in Korea. This trip to Asia, which started with the Tokyo Series, is part of our efforts to expand and deepen our business network in the region.”
Speaking of the Tokyo Series, last year’s MLB Seoul Series comes to mind. How did the two compare?
“Both were amazing experiences, so it’s difficult to compare them directly. With the LA Dodgers having Ohtani, Yamamoto, and Sasaki on the team, the energy in Japan was on another level, especially after Ohtani made history with a 50-50 season and we won the World Series. The Seoul experience was fantastic, and importantly, it laid the groundwork for what the Tokyo experience could be.”
You’re not just the owner of the Dodgers but also the Lakers and Chelsea FC. What drives your investment in sports?
“Sports teams exist at the intersection of the themes that Eldridge has historically focused on—media, real estate, and IP. Sports investing is unique because generally, there is a finite number of sports teams, and it is a rare opportunity when a team comes up for sale.
And the first thing that you look at when you think of a sports team is the strength of a fan base. These fan bases are very committed to the success of their team. So that combination of a passionate fan base and a commitment to win brings together a lot of excitement. And live sports are really the only thing that people will time shift their calendar for. As an investor and owner, sports are intellectually stimulating, and very humbling to be a part of. It makes me strive to do the best I can do everyday to put the right people in place, build a foundation, and then let it run."
It sounds like investing in sports is essentially investing in fandom.
“Fans are the lifeblood of any team. As owners, you have to always think about the fan perspective, and we are continuously looking for more ways to engage with fans directly, both in the U.S. and abroad. We are just starting to scratch the surface with what we can offer to fans in terms of new and immersive experiences. We are discussing ways to bring sports to more mass market investors, whether through fractional ownership, or buying into a fund.”
Do you have any core principles when it comes to investing in sports?
“The foundation of fandom is ‘winning.’ The number one thing is to build a very strong competitive team that can win today and continue to win in the future. We’ve been able to put together teams that have a high probability of staying together for a very long time. That’s why I prefer long-term contracts (such as the 10-year deal with Ohtani). The move of Luka Dončić from the Dallas Mavericks to the LA Lakers is in the same vein. The Lakers are a top global brand, not only in the United States but around the world, and have a strong history of winning. Luka is a clear continuation of this long-term plan.”
It all comes down to profitability.
“Of course. If you build a winning team, success follows naturally. Each MLB team negotiates its own media deal and LA is the second-largest media market in the world. The media contract was coming up for renewal a year after we bought it. We thought people were underpricing the media value that was embedded in that renewal of that contract, and we knew we had strong attendance with the Dodgers.”
Todd Boehly, along with Mark Walter of Guggenheim Baseball Management, Magic Johnson, Peter Guber, Stan Kasten, and Robert Patton, acquired the Los Angeles Dodgers in May 2012 for $2.15 billion—the highest price ever paid for a sports franchise at the time. Anticipating a sharp rise in the value of sports media rights, the group signed a 25-year cable deal with Time Warner Cable, which continues to generate stable cash flow for the team.
“Look at what happened after the renewal. The 2024 MLB World Tour: Seoul Series averaged 18.7 million viewers and became the most-watched MLB game in Japan—even though it was held in Korea. This year’s Tokyo Series exceeded 25 million viewers. We believe the Dodgers are on track to become the first MLB team to generate over $1 billion (1.46 trillion won) in annual revenue.”
When you acquired Chelsea F.C. three years ago, there was criticism that your approach was too focused on business.
“Our investment criteria haven’t changed. We look for cohesive, capable teams that share a clear mission. There was a lot of chatter when we transferred Romelu Lukaku, who had been signed under the previous owner, Roman Abramovich. He wasn’t part of our strategy. So, I think our strategy started the day that we started at Chelsea Football Club. And if you look at players that we’ve acquired, they’re generally younger under long-term contracts, unlike what the previous owner was doing.”
How does the sports market in the United Kingdom differ from that of the United States?
“There’s a saying in the U.K. that you’re three times more likely to get divorced than to change your football club. That’s how deep the loyalty runs. European football is intensely competitive—one mistake can be fatal, and every goal carries the emotional weight of a walk-off home run in baseball. There are also differences in how venues are used. And if you look at them in America, sports have become entertainment. And that entertainment, the center of that entertainment is usually the stadium or the arena, and the stadiums in the arena and arenas in America are really built as entertainment platforms and I think around the rest of the world, they’ve been built as utilitarian for a specific function so I think stadium development all around the world is going to be a big opportunity so I believe very much that over the course of the next coming decades, you’re going to see a major investment in infrastructure."
What about entertainment? Any investments familiar to Korean audiences?
“A24, our global entertainment studio, has worked with a lot of Korean actors and directors to create some iconic films and TV shows. Minari earned six Academy Award nominations, marking the first time a Korean actor [Youn Yuh-jung] had won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Beef, which was distributed by Netflix, won eight Emmys and three Golden Globe Awards. The second season of Beef was announced last year and we’re really excited for the next installment."
How do you view K-pop from an investment perspective?
“We have seen firsthand how popular K-pop has become globally. These groups have been able to create powerful brands and attract new audiences. We think it’s a growing force in the world and one we have been watching.”
Your investment portfolio spans many sectors. That must make partnerships especially important.
“We partner with and support great management teams who have proven their ability to scale. It’s not our job to be experts on everything – that’s why we have excellent management teams in place. We care a lot about the relationships we have.”
Are there any partnerships that stand out?
“We partnered with Daniel Katz to start A24 in 2012. Daniel was with us at Guggenheim and developed a credit mentality applied to the studio business and was able to be successful. Daniel approached film and TV with a credit mentality while also appreciating the value and the potential of intellectual property and at what price point we are creating it relative to how much risk we have in it.
We also joined efforts with Jay Penske by contributing Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter into PME (Penske Media Eldridge) alongside Variety and Rolling Stone. Jay and his team have continued to grow and develop this highly recognizable portfolio of brands digitally. More recently, we partnered with Jay to acquire the Golden Globes and had a successful show with Nikki Glaser this past January.”
Your career seems filled with successes. Have there been any investment failures?
“I think the one that kind of sticks out is the investment we made in Pizza Hut. And unfortunately, that didn’t work. There are a whole host of reasons, but one of the things that became really clear was that you want to be in control of the intellectual property. And that was a situation where we were one step removed from the intellectual property (IP). And we thought that we would be able to align with the intellectual property owner. And unfortunately, that didn’t happen. So now we’re very adamant that we always have to own the intellectual property whenever we’re playing with brands.”
Any personal failures that shaped you?
“I was a wrestler, and I missed weight once. I still think about it to this day – I let my team down. I learned a lot about commitment to yourself and your teammates. With wrestling, there’s nowhere to hide – it’s all on you, so it was an entrepreneurial experience that helped mold who I am today.”
What’s your ultimate goal?
“Since Eldridge Industries’ founding in 2015, we’ve been compounding at an average of approximately 20% per year. Our goal is to continue to grow and build businesses that stand the test of time. We continue to look for investments that are intellectually stimulating, and then we try to identify problems and solve problems. As we expand our network, finding interesting things to do seems to get easier and easier. We have found that people value access to our unique network and the doors we can open, as they want to be part of an ecosystem that makes their jobs and efforts easier.”
One final light question—who’s the best player you’ve ever signed?
“It’s hard to pick one over another, but Ohtani has obviously been probably the best player of all time. And I think it’s just so unique to be able to see someone who can hit, run, and field. We always thought that if we needed to, he could always play center field. I mean, he’s so talented. And then, of course, to be able to pitch. To have someone who’s a top five hitter in the world and a top five pitcher in the world in the same individual, it’s pretty special.”
Any thoughts on Kim Hye-seong, who joined the Dodgers this year?
“We’re super excited about the fact that he’s on our team. We’re big believers of him for the future. Obviously, we had Hyun-jin Ryu for a long time, so we had a fairly good experience with Park and Ryu. So again, I think we’re excited about the opportunity to continue developing the players here. So that’s the first.”
