The founding family of Sports Endeavors Inc. remains a minority investor and will continue to lead the North Carolina company
Seawall Capital LLC is betting on soccer’s growing popularity with a majority stake in Sports Endeavors Inc., the owner of online retailer soccer.com and the Eurosport soccer catalog.
Austin-based Seawall and the Moylan family, which founded Sports Endeavors in 1984 and will continue to run the company as a minority owner, see an opportunity from growing interest in soccer across the U.S. as the FIFA World Cup kicks off this fall and the women’s World Cup follows next year. The U.S., which hosted the World Cup in 1994, is slated to host the 2026 World Cup with Mexico and Canada.
“A generation of players that came through ‘94, where the game was always really important to them, are now the decision makers,” said Mike Moylan, the company’s co-founder and chief executive.
At the same time, he said, soccer is now a mainstream sport in the U.S. and American players have made it to some of the top clubs around the world.
SEI, as the company is known, started as a high-school senior project that allowed him to turn his interest in soccer into a career, Mr. Moylan said. As a teenager, Mr. Moylan launched the company with the help of his family, including his brother Brendan, who is now Sports Endeavors’ chief operating officer.
SEI, as the company is known, started as a high-school senior project that allowed him to turn his interest in soccer into a career, Mr. Moylan said. As a teenager, Mr. Moylan launched the company with the help of his family, including his brother Brendan, who is now Sports Endeavors’ chief operating officer.
The first Eurosport catalog was mailed to about 6,000 people. Today, the catalog goes out to nearly one million people, and the company has expanded into other sports, including baseball, softball, lacrosse and volleyball. The company also runs sports apparel and equipment retailers WorldSoccerShop and 431 Sports, which focuses on team uniforms.
The Moylans and Matt Eby, Seawall’s founder and managing partner, declined to comment on the size of the investment. Seawall typically makes $25 million to $100 million investments in founder-led companies, according to the firm’s website.
Mike Moylan said the investment will help SEI accelerate key initiatives, such as increasing capacity along with sales and marketing investments. The company also is looking to expand licensing opportunities with clubs in the U.S. and abroad.
There has been an unprecedented interest in getting kids back out onto the field,” Brendan Moylan said, adding that the Covid-19 pandemic underscored the important role sports play in connecting people.
Although youth sports suffered during the pandemic as many events were canceled and health measures were imposed to help curb the spread of the virus, the market is rebounding, according to industry data. According to a report published by the Aspen Institute’s Project Play, 47% of youth sports parents said that as of September 2021 their kids had resumed sports at the same level as before the pandemic.
Research firm Allied Market Research predicts that the sports equipment and apparel market will reach $930.5 billion by 2031, with a compound annual growth rate of more than 8% from 2022 to 2031. The market, the firm said, stands to benefit from demand generated by events such as the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup as well as organizations like the Indian Premier League and youth sports.
The SEI investment isn’t Seawall’s first in a sports equipment or apparel company. In late 2020, the firm acquired Kent Water Sports Holdings LLC and has since rebranded the company as Kent Outdoors.
SEI has “an incredibly powerful connection with the consumer,” said Mr. Eby, who previously co-founded private-equity firm Tengram Capital Partners.
“That moment where you get your jersey, and you put your new jersey on the first time,” Mr. Eby said, “that’s a special moment.”
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