Skybox Media

Brent Peus Jr. is the Founder & CEO of Skybox: https://www.skyboxmedia.com/

Dominyck Bullard is the CEO of Athletiverse, Inc.:

https://athletiverse.io/

Matthew Jester is a Partner at Skybox & Investor at CNC Partners: https://www.cncpartners.co/

Marlon Primous is a Principal at Seven Seven Six:

https://sevensevensix.com/

https://www.skyboxmedia.com/

James Trawick is the CEO of the Hondo Rodeo Fest, the $1M rodeo selling out NFL and MLB stadiums.

https://www.thehondorodeo.com/

In 2024, James and his co-founders set out to package rodeo the way the NBA and NFL package their stars: the eight best contestants in the world, head to head every run, for a million dollar purse, with major country acts on the same bill. By year two they sold out Chase Field in Phoenix. Now they’ve added the Superdome in New Orleans and head to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa this February.

We get into the gap James saw in professional rodeo, why the sport needs its own Drive to Survive, how Hondo brings first-time fans and new brands into Western culture, how they pick markets, and the founder lessons from launching an events business at stadium scale.

Chapters

00:00 The Million Dollar Rodeo

04:02 Rodeo’s Missing Starting Five

07:11 Back in the Saddle at Cody Johnson’s Ropin’

09:05 Why Rodeo Needs a Drive to Survive

14:01 Built for First-Time Fans

17:27 Bringing New Brands Into Western Culture

21:38 Phoenix, New Orleans & Tampa: Picking Markets

26:06 The Decision That Changed Everything: Not Playing It Safe

28:26 What It Takes to Run an Events Business

34:18 The Biggest Myth About Rodeo

37:23 Where the Hondo Is in 2031

Brent Peus Jr. is the Founder & CEO of Skybox: https://www.skyboxmedia.com/

Dominyck Bullard is the CEO of Athletiverse, Inc.: https://athletiverse.io/

Matthew Jester is a Partner at Skybox & Investor at CNC Partners: https://www.cncpartners.co/

Brent Peus Jr. is the Founder & CEO of Skybox: https://www.skyboxmedia.com/

Dominyck Bullard is the CEO of Athletiverse, Inc.: https://athletiverse.io/

Matthew Jester is a Partner at Skybox & Investor at CNC Partners: https://www.cncpartners.co/

Mackenzie Chapman is an Investor at 359 Capital: https://www.359capital.com/

Under The Number is a Skybox Media production.

Full library: skyboxmedia.com

Instagram: @skyboxhq

TikTok: @skyboxhq

Brett Johnson is the CEO of Benevolent Capital → www.benevolentcapital.com

Brett has raised nearly $500 million across 33 SPVs in five years, and the common denominator is him. On this episode of Under The Number, the CEO of Benevolent Capital walks Brent Peus through how he went from running Targus to building one of the most active deal platforms in the sports economy.

We cover the full arc: watching the 2014 MLS Cup and realizing Phoenix had no team, rebranding Arizona United into Phoenix Rising, building a stadium in 51 days, and convincing Didier Drogba to finish his career in the USL. Then the Ipswich story, from a cold pitch to Mark Ashton at a USL board meeting to three promotions back to the Premier League, backed by an Arizona pension fund. Brett explains why Rhode Island FC's $140 million stadium anchors a 700-unit district, why "rectangular sports" is an asset class, and why most teams can't wait around for the equity appreciation fairies. He also breaks down the $100 million Three Lions SPAC, why he prefers SPVs to a blind-pool fund, and where he thinks sports valuations are headed next.

Topics:

- Targus and the founding of Benevolent Capital

- Why Brett was early on sports as an asset class

- SPVs vs. funds: 33 deals, $500M, 800 investors

- Phoenix Rising, the 51-day modular stadium, and Didier Drogba

- Rhode Island FC, the $140M stadium, and stadium-anchored real estate

- Rectangular sports as an asset class

- The Ipswich Town turnaround, Mark Ashton, and the Arizona pension fund

- Athletic Brewing, Best Day, Oura, and Flyhouse

- The $100M Three Lions SPAC and what they're hunting for

- What's mispriced in the sports economy right now

Brent Peus Jr. is the Founder & CEO of Skybox: https://www.skyboxmedia.com/

Dominyck Bullard is the CEO of Athletiverse, Inc.: https://athletiverse.io/

Matthew Jester is a Partner at Skybox & Investor at CNC Partners: https://www.cncpartners.co/

Brent Peus Jr. is the Founder & CEO of Skybox: https://www.skyboxmedia.com/

Dominyck Bullard is the CEO of Athletiverse, Inc.: https://athletiverse.io/

Matthew Jester is an Investor at CNC Partners:

https://www.cncpartners.co/

Todd Dobson is the Co-Founder of the Grass League: https://grassleague.com/

Brent Peus Jr. is the Founder & CEO of Skybox: https://www.skyboxmedia.com/

Dominyck Bullard is the CEO of Athletiverse, Inc.: 

athletiverse.io

Matthew Jester is an Investor at CNC Partners: https://www.cncpartners.co/

Brent Peus Jr. is the Founder & CEO of Skybox: https://www.skyboxmedia.com/

Dominyck Bullard is the CEO of Athletiverse, Inc.: https://athletiverse.io/

Matthew Jester is an Investor at CNC Partners: https://www.cncpartners.co/

Mac Hereford is a Managing Director at Stedde Capital:

https://www.steddecapital.com/

www.skyboxmedia.com

Nick Ralston was a practice squad fullback for the Dallas Cowboys. When the team released him in 2022, he stayed in the building and joined Blue Star Innovation Partners, the Jerry Jones-backed private equity firm, as an investor. Now he is building AthleteOS, an operating system that treats the athlete as a business.

We sat down in Dallas for a conversation on the Cowboys' 365-day money machine, the chain of introductions that took Nick from the locker room to Jerry's deal team, and the networking playbook behind one of the deepest Rolodexes in sports.

The episode covers:

Why the athlete should be run as a business, not managed as a player

Inside the Cowboys' brand and IP flywheel

What Blue Star Innovation Partners is and how Jerry Jones backs it

Selling houses to teammates and getting hired by Jerry's PE firm

The first Cowboy in 17 years to ask the front office about business

Almost quitting football in 2020

How the Cowboys promote and protect the brand

The college kid who spent $500K in NIL money

What AthleteOS actually does

LinkedIn vs. Instagram: 10,000 executive impressions beat 100,000

random ones

Why NBA players have teams around them and NFL players don't

The fractional C-suite and the athlete holding company

Why the locker next to Dak Prescott was Nick's most valuable asset

"Go network": the Rob Wexler advice that changed everything

Givers, takers, and the law of reciprocity

How to turn one meeting into a real relationship

Why Zeke and Alvin Kamara had never spoken

"Being Dak would be great, but I want to be Jerry"

The Cowboys as the modern Disney flywheel

Learn more about AthleteOS: https://www.athleteos.com/

#Skybox #SportsBusiness #SportsEconomy #DallasCowboys #NFL