Episode summary
Chris Long - investing in women’s soccer in the US is like “buying the Boston Celtics in the 1960s.”
Alt Goes Mainstream
· · Hosts: Michael Sidgmore · Guests: Chris Long, Angie Long, Brittany Mahomes, Patrick Mahomes
Summary
Chris Long argues that Palmer Square’s edge in credit comes from broad flexibility, deep underwriting, and a client-first product design. He says the firm’s growth to roughly $29 billion AUM came from combining experienced people, strong retention, and multiple wrappers for the same underlying investment process, including mutual funds, SMAs, private funds, and a BDC. He also thinks private credit has plenty of room to grow, even if competition is making underwriting more frothy at the margins and defaults may rise in smaller, cyclical borrowers.
Long is bullish on larger-company lending because those borrowers tend to have better interest coverage and more sophisticated treasury management, and he expects the market to keep blurring between direct lending, broadly syndicated loans, and high yield. He says the most important lender will be one that can participate in both markets at scale.
The conversation then turns to the Kansas City Current, where Long says buying the NWSL team felt like “buying the Boston Celtics in the 1960s.” He frames the stadium, facilities, and ownership model as both a community investment and a business that can drive enterprise value, with the goal of building a perennial contender and a profitable global women’s sports platform.
Key takeaways
- Long says Palmer Square’s core advantage is underwriting and flexibility across U.S. and European corporate and structured credit.
- He thinks private credit is getting frothy in the smaller middle market, but not systemically risky, because defaults are still mostly idiosyncratic by industry.
- Long expects lenders that can compete in both direct lending and the broadly syndicated market to win larger private-equity-backed deals.
- He says the Kansas City Current’s purpose-built stadium materially improves the franchise’s economics and should help make women’s sports a profitable business.
- Long believes women’s soccer in the U.S. offers outsized upside, comparing the opportunity to “buying the Boston Celtics in the 1960s.”
Notable quotes
“Underwriting. Underwriting. Underwriting. I mean, it at the end of the day, if you're a credit investor”
“I think that it's in on the periphery, it's gotten frothy”
“I think you're going to continue to see that market grow and it's a very important piece of the capital markets now”
“in a lot of ways felt like being part of the buying group of the Boston Celtics in the 1960s”
“Perennally competing and winning championships profitable model for women's sports globally”
How the episode opens
Everybody gets ace main from Wall Street to Melrose Avenue. We're going mainream. Venture capitalists to athletes to creators to the person who collected trading cards.
Finance. Welcome back to the ELO's mainstream podcast. Today we have an incredible discussion that spans the world of private credit and the growth of women's sports and how those two topics intersect in the guest daily life.
Chris Long founded Palmer Square Capital Management, an approximately 29 billion asset manager focused on corporate and structured credit with offices in Kansas City and London in June 2009. Currently, he serves as chairman, CEO, and portfolio manager. Since inception, Chris has been successful in building one of the premier credit investment firms in the world that includes clients across institutions, family offices, RAS, bank and trust, and broker dealers.
Prior to starting Palmer Square, Chris built a deep investment background at some of the top financial services firms in the world, including Morgan Stanley, TH Lee Putnham Ventures, and JP Morgan. In December 2020, Chris added the title of professional sports team owner as he joined as the co-founder and owner Angie Long, and co-owner Britney Mahomes in bringing a National Women's Soccer League franchise to Kansas City. The Kansas City Current launched on an extraordinary timeline, playing its first professional match just 124 days after the franchise was announced as owners Chris, Angie, Britney, and recent addition to ownership Patrick Mahomes have had a clear vision for not only establishing the best women's soccer club in the world, but also having the Kansas City Current serve as a model for all of women's sports, which was no more apparent than the recent completion of their new stadium, a $124 million project that is the first soccer stadium specifically built for a women's professional soccer team.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- private credit
- sports team ownership
- women's soccer growth
- asset management
- stadium-driven revenue
Companies and tickers mentioned
- MS
- JPM
- Palmer Square Capital Management
- Morgan Stanley
- TH Lee Putnam Ventures
- J.P. Morgan
Watch the episode
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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Alt Goes Mainstream, this episode and its artwork belong to Michael Sidgmore. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
