About Us - Beacon Sports Capital Partners, LLC

Beacon Sports Capital Partners, LLC was formed in 1997 as a boutique investment bank and financial advisory firm specializing in the professional sports industry and related businesses. Although professional sports ranks among the Top 20 in revenue of all US industries, it has rarely attracted the attention it might otherwise warrant from significant participants in the capital markets. League, franchise, and venue transactions are typically conducted in private with to no financial specifics disclosed to the public; as a direct result, capital formation is inefficient and deal specific financing can be challenging. These conditions can inhibit the formation/expansion of sports leagues, depressing the value of individual franchises while limiting the marketability of certain franchises within the industry. The market inefficiencies also hinder the development or renovation of new sports and entertainment venues, a critical component to the continued growth in revenue, profitability, and value of all sports franchises.

With the continued rise in franchise values and ever-present necessity for modern playing venues, there is a critical need for expansion of available capital formation sources in the professional sports industry. Due to inefficient capital flow along with the absence of industry-tailored financing, the business of acquiring, operating, and expanding the profitability of many professional sports franchises has become increasingly challenging. When the need arises to exit a sports investment, franchise owners and investors find few participants that have the industry knowledge and a network of relevant capital sources to maximize value in order to facilitate a quick sale. As a result, principles and prospective participants in the professional sports industry seek financial advisory services that address the challenges inherent in the business of professional sport ownership.

Beacon Sports Capital Partners, LLC was formed and continually operates to address these market needs. Beacon Sports and its personnel have completed over two billion dollars of sport and sports related projects representing private individuals and groups, municipalities, equity funds, and sports leagues.

Richard W. Billings, Jr - Founder and Managing Principal - rbillings@beaconsportscapital.com +

After graduating from college in 1974 with a joint degree in economics and Russian history, Rick worked in a variety of capacities for the predecessor banks to Bank of Boston in both Connecticut and Rhode Island rising to the level of Group Vice President in charge of all New England Corporate Banking and Correspondent Banking. In 1984, Rick joined Shawmut Bank to develop and run a national High Technology Finance Department. At that time, Shawmut was the third oldest and tenth largest Bank in the US. Within three years, this department was the second largest of its kind in the country both in term of total loans and investments but also in terms of number of relationships managed. With the advent of the banking crisis in New England in 1989, all corporate lending was consolidated at Shawmut and he was put in charge of this function and promoted to Senior Vice President. In 1992, after the regulatory environment eased, Rick was promoted to Division Executive in charge of developing and managing a National Specialty Finance Division which included lending groups dedicated to the Technology, Aerospace, Auto, Retail, Utility, and Sports industries.

Of particular relevance here, is the Sports Finance Group. Rick was responsible for developing and approving the strategic business plan and establishing the underwriting guidelines, which were the basis for the formation of Shawmut's Sports Finance Group. During my tenure, Shawmut's sports financing portfolio and its successor portfolios at Fleet, grew to over $2.0 billion in loan commitments and was the largest at the time in the Country. This Group was responsible for structuring the first multi-year securitization in sports finance, the $496 million Major League Baseball Credit facility (now over $2.0 billion), which first closed in 1996. During the Labor lock-out in the National Hockey League during 1995, the Group structured of the first and only NHL league-wide securitization which kept nearly a third of the franchises in the NHL out of bankruptcy during this period of time. Other non-franchise transactions included acquisition financing for Vail and American Ski as well as loans to concessionaires and venue management and marketing companies. Further, this Group initiated and structured numerous franchise and venue development transactions including individual loans to:

Major League Baseball ("MLB") – Boston Red Sox; Milwaukee Brewers; San Diego Padres; New York Yankees; Pittsburgh Pirates
National Hockey League ("NHL") – Boston Bruins; Buffalo Sabers; Dallas Stars; Phoenix Coyotes; Ottawa Senators; New York Islanders; Toronto
National Basketball Association ("NBA") – Boston Celtics; Los Angeles Lakers; San Antonio Spurs; Toronto Raptors
National Football League ("NFL") – Baltimore Ravens;Buffalo Bills;Miami Dolphins: Tampa Bay Buccaneers; Philadelphia Eagles, Patriots
Arena & Stadium Finance – Fleet Center; Tampa Bay Ice Palace; M & T Stadium; MCI Center; Miller Park; HKSB Arena; FedEx Stadium; Great Western Forum; Bank One Ballpark

Gerald Sheehan - President - gsheehan@beaconsportscapital.com +

Gerald is President of Beacon Sports Capital Partners, LLC and one of its founding members since the firm’s opening in 1999. Gerald’s entire career has been in banking and corporate finance. Since joining Beacon Sports, Gerald has been instrumental in the following notable transactions:

Advisor to the City of Wichita, KS in the construction of a $83 million Triple A ballpark in the Riverfront District of Wichita. Assisted the City in the negotiations of a Ballpark Development, Management Use, and Development Agreements as part of this project.
Worked closely with MiLB owners and officials in the relocation of a Triple A MiLB team from New Orleans to Wichita.
As exclusive representative, sourced and negotiated senior credit facilities for Wichita Baseball, LLC. Funding was used as a source of working capital for start-up and moving costs as well as the clubs capital contribution to a new ballpark in Wichita.
In a financial advisory capacity, sourced and negotiated senior credit facilities for Fast Forward Sports Group, LLC, the owner of the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp of Triple A MiLB and the Akron Rubber Ducks of Double A MiLB.
Assisted Ivy Walls Management and its majority owner, Bill Shea in the sale of the Omaha Storm Chasers of Triple A MiLB to Alliance Baseball. Subsequently, arranged equity capital for Alliance Baseball.
Exclusive Representative to American Baseball Ventures in the sale of their controlling interest in the Lakewood Blue Claws of Single A MiLB to Shore Town Baseball, LLC.
Represented the ownership group in the sale of the Binghamton Mets of Double A MiLB to Evans Street Baseball, Inc.
On behalf of Ripken Baseball Group, arranged for the sale of the Charlotte Stone Crabs of Single A MiLB to Caribbean Baseball Initiative, LLC.
As exclusive representative for DFS Sports, assisted in the sale of the Bowling Green Hot Rods of Single A MiLB to MC Sports Acquisition, LLC.
On behalf of the City of Glendale, AZ, managed a request for proposal process to arrange a Venue Management Agreement with Anschutz Facilities Management, an affiliate of Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), for the management and operations of the Gila River Arena. Also, prepared a valuation of the Gila River Arena and an analysis of leases of National Hockey League arenas for the City.
Served an advisor to the owners of the Los Angeles Forum in the restructuring of the arena’s private financing and raised new debt and equity capital. Also managed a request for proposal process for arena management, marketing, and concessions and booking agreements for the facility.
As an advisor, assisted in the securing of $40 million in capital for Mandalay Baseball in the form of $20 million of private equity and $20 million in senior credit facilities.
Served as a financial advisor to George Gillett in his acquisition of the Montreal Canadiens, Molson Centre and its real estate holding and operations business.
Has prepared many valuations of sports franchises and related sports properties for estate and planning purposes.

Gerald is a graduate of Fordham University where he received a B.A. in Economics and the University of Notre Dame where he received a Master of Business Administration.

Christopher C. Billings - Managing Director - cbillings@beaconsportscapital.com +

After graduating from Bentley College in 2003 with a degree in Marketing, Christopher Billings worked in a variety of capacities for Beacon Sports Capital Partners, LLC. Starting his tenure with Beacon as a marketing and business analyst, Chris work with clientele's senior management to analyze and develop improved marketing and sponsorship strategies to maximize core and non-core programming attendance as well as ancillary revenue.

Chris has also held positions as Director of Marketing/Event Coordinator of start-up international event management company, Worldwide Soccer Academy ("WWSA"), out of San Diego, California. Chris's duties with WWSA include but are not limited to: raising seed capital for the friendly games, creating investor presentations and financial projects for principals' and investors, creating grassroots marketing initiatives in target venue markets, negotiating soccer stadium leases, building ticket manifests, and targeting potential sponsorship synergies as well developing sponsorship packages for outsourced marketing agency.

Chris's current role with Beacon Sports has him coordinating with clientele management in developing sponsorship and marketing strategies for sports franchises and sports related start-up clientele along with assisting senior management with creating Private Placement Memorandums and investor presentations. He conducts due diligence on team game day operations, stadium condition, review Team's financials and contractual obligations, and comparable revenue analysis within industry standards. He has assisted in raising and selling over $100 million of equity through public sources, bank debt as well as private infusion for the sales and acquisitions of sports related entities and venue refinancing. Chris has also also participated in the following projects:

Assisted in Preparing a Financial Feasibility Study for City of Glendale, Arizona during the Phoenix Coyotes bankruptcy (2009)
Assisted in developing Private Placement Memoranda's for the New Haven Ravens (2004), New Hampshire Fischer Cats (2006), Harrisburg Senators (2007)
Raised over $250,000 in seed capital for start-up of WWSA operations and event down payments
Constructed detailed budgets, cash flow projections and pro-forma financial reports of planned events for prospective WWSA investors
Constructed WWSA's ticket manifests and pricing strategy in coordination with Ticketmaster and Sam Boyd Stadium ticket office based on the low income target market demographics, break-even budget scenarios, and sponsor and media protocols for promotions of WWSA events
Performed benchmarking analysis of minor league baseball in order to assess an individual team's market competitiveness by analyzing ticket pricing strategies, non-baseball programming, sponsorships opportunities, divesting partial franchise ownership, concession and merchandising margin analysis, along with reviewing contractual franchise obligations

Timothy P. Billings - Research Associate & IT Specialist - tbillings@beaconsportscapital.com +

Prior to joining Beacon Sports, Timothy spent time at the Carrboro Citizen Newspaper running the local sports beat where he oversaw the reporting of all local sport results in the Durham, Orange and Chatham counties. Timothy is a graduate of the Quinnipiac University with a Bachelor’s degree in English as well as receiving an Associate’s degree from Durham Technological College in Applied Science with a specialty of Information Systems Security.

Over Timothy's tenure at Beacon Sports, he has assisted in:

Aided in the research and development of Base Brazil, a consortium of Youth Soccer Academies in Brazil
Research in various minor league baseball proposals as well as presentation oversight