Ad Disclosure
Nick Saban looking to invest in multiple professional sports franchises, per report
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban is a legend in the world of college football. And while the coaching icon is best known for his national titles, extensive list of NFL Draft picks, and his recent work on “College GameDay,” Saban has done quite well away from the world of football.
In a recent story by Forbes, the career path of Joe Agresti is detailed as the brains behind the “Dream Motor Group.” Agresti and Saban entered into a partnership with multiple car dealerships spread across the southeast.
The business has been a smashing success, with Saban describing the partnership as “one of the best decisions I ever made” in the story. While Saban is a minority owner, the business has helped make Agresti one of the newest billionaires to join the “World’s Billionaires list.”
When it came to finding an investing partner, Saban described the move as similar to finding an offensive coordinator at Alabama:
“I interviewed Joe and didn’t interview anybody else,” Saban tells Forbes. “It’s like interviewing a good offensive coordinator—you just know it’s the right guy.”
Steve Cannon, a former CEO, has since joined Agresti and Saban on certain deals, and Forbes revealed that the group is looking at multiple professional sports franchises in Tennessee for investment opportunities. The specifics were not disclosed, while Agresti also mentioned a potential automotive business expansion into South America.
From Forbes:
In the meantime, Agresti says he, Saban and Cannon are eyeing investments in “three or four” professional sports teams in Tennessee (he won’t say which) and an “automotive-related” business in South America. Then there’s the agreement to expand his dealership empire into a sixth state and “a whole myriad of different brands” besides Mercedes, Infiniti and Ferrari, which the hyperactive Agresti signed “two minutes” before his call with Forbes—and continued to negotiate during our interview.
Saban might be retired from coaching, but combined with his broadcasting career and recent string of endorsement deals, the college football legend is staying quite busy in retirement. We’ll see where that takes him next and whether or not he does indeed get into pro sports investment down the road.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
