GaryVee views women's volleyball and softball as markets ripe for major growth, noting emerging leagues in both sports. He highlights the UFC as a model where female athletes receive full parity and acceptance at the highest level. Even without predicting specific outcomes, he thinks women's sports have built strong cultural momentum that makes these specific categories attractive investment opportunities.
GaryVee explains that early-stage alternative sports must obsess over delivering value to their initial community, similar to a band cultivating its first followers. Interacting deeply with the first thousand hardcore fans creates genuine word-of-mouth traction. Once that authentic base is solidified, leagues can leverage modern social media distribution and athlete celebrity to reach broader global audiences.
GaryVee notes that traditional franchise loyalty is giving way to player-centric fandom, partially driven by fantasy sports, betting, and trading cards. He believes many people choose player-centric fandom as a source of self-esteem, hitching their identities to guaranteed winners rather than enduring the emotional journey of supporting a single franchise through losses.
GaryVee argues that paper valuations in booming sectors like pickleball and paddle are largely meaningless for long-term builders. Short-term price drops or surges do not impact investors who have no intention of selling. Because emerging sports properties could still go to zero without sustained execution—similar to the historical collapse of the USFL—he focuses on long-term operations over valuation hype.