Athletes Turn To Agriculture: How Joe Burrow And Blake Griffin Are Planting Roots In Farming

A bevy of athletic superstars, led by Joe Burrow and Blake Griffin, have banded together to plant their roots in northern Iowa.

What Happened: With a shared fund of $5 million, the athletes have acquired a sprawling 104-acre farm teeming with corn and soy, according to Front Office Sports.

Joining them in the venture are well-known athletes Kevin Gausman, Anders Lee, Kemba Walker, Khris Middleton, Zach Ertz and Sam Hubbard. Together, they will lease the land to farmers and reap a harvest of single-digit-percentage annual returns on their investment.

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This is just the beginning of their agricultural endeavors, according to the report.

The group plans to expand its portfolio by cultivating four more farms in the coming years, diversifying its assets with everything from watermelon farms in Oregon to a "known brand in the alcohol space" through Patricof Co, which sources investment opportunities for athletes while incorporating institutional investors like JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Patricof Co. founder Mark Patricof shared with Front Office Sports that the interest in agriculture investments had been simmering for years, but it wasn't until the market cooled in 2022 that they felt the time was ripe to invest.

“We did three investments last year after doing six the year before,” Patricof told Front Office Sports. “The market changed. The world changed. Prices didn’t necessarily go down, but valuations should have, so we held back. It was the right time in the cycle to put money into this asset class.”

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