Best Of: Jason Wright

<p><i>This week on ROAR we're re-running one of our favorite conversations of the season — our sit-down with Jason Wright. If you missed it the first time, it's essential listening on where women's sports, real estate, and revenue actually intersect.</i></p><p></p><p>Most people still frame women's sports as a movement. Jason Wright runs a fund built on the opposite premise — that it's one of the most under-researched and undervalued asset classes in sports. In this episode, hosts Caroline Valvardi and Adam Grossman trace Wright's path from seven years as an NFL running back, through a labor lockout that became his first lesson in sports business, to McKinsey, the President's chair of the Washington Commanders, and now Project Level, the women's sports fund he launched with Melody Hobson at Ariel Investments.</p><p></p><p>The conversation lands squarely where ROAR lives: the intersection of sports, real estate, and revenue. Wright breaks down the thesis driving Project Level — the modernization of men's sports that women's leagues can now draft on, two decades of family spending on girls' youth sports, and the "net-new fan" who never bought a men's ticket. From there the group digs into the economics of purpose-built women's stadiums, using naming rights to lower the cost of capital, and mixed-use districts that can out-earn the team next door. There's also a Northwestern reunion baked in: three Wildcats, two of them from the class of 2004, with Adam stepping into a dual host-and-guest role.</p><p></p><p>01:16 From NFL running back to franchise president </p><p>04:56 What Northwestern athletics taught them </p><p>09:36 NIL, the transfer portal &amp; the leadership question 1</p><p>6:06 Why women's sports: the Ariel model &amp; Melody Hobson </p><p>20:41 The thesis: three tailwinds &amp; the "net-new fan" </p><p>26:52 Data, AI &amp; closing the capability gap </p><p>34:28 Inside the LP base &amp; diversifying the asset class </p><p>40:23 Purpose-built women's stadiums: the value case </p><p>45:11 Mixed-use districts &amp; when real estate out-earns the team </p><p>48:44 The public-funding case for women's venues </p><p>49:59 What's next: leagues, youth sports &amp; sleeper bets</p><p></p><p></p>