Atonn Muhammad a former Miami Hurricanes football player who went on to become the founder and CEO of the Real Hip-Hop Network, is leading a new sports private equity firm called Blacksun. Getty Images Rarely are the words “altruism” and “private equity” found in the same sentence, yet a cross-section of former Obama-era officials, media executives and several professional athletes are endeavoring to rewrite the rules of professional sports investment with the launch of a new $7 billion sports-focused investment fund called Blacksun.
“If you look at the Lakers transaction, it’s a perfect example of the old model — several good ol boy billionaires moving these massively important franchises amongst each other while the city and the community see none of the upside,” said Nick Rathod, a veteran political operative who worked in the Obama Administration, ran Beto O’Rourke’s gubernatorial campaign, and helped Elizabeth Warren set up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
“What we are doing is the opposite of that,” said Rathod, who is serving as chief of strategy and global communications for the new entity.
Blacksun is being led by Atonn Muhammad a former Miami Hurricanes football player who went on to become the founder and CEO of the Real Hip-Hop Network.
Blacksun is but the latest firm to try and capitalize on the trend of private equity, scooping up whatever it can in the live events and sports industries. In 2025 the NBA reportedly loosened its rules governing how much ownership a private equity firm could have in any team.
A top priority for Muhammad and company is the creation of the World American Football League and a new combat sports league called Knockout Fights.
Blacksun has also formed an ownership group to attempt to bring the Seattle Supersonics back to the NBA and to do so they are trying to partner with a Native American tribe to secure a lease to their protected tribal lands to build a new stadium. “We want to create a partnership with the tribes and bring them in as stakeholders. In exchange for land we are looking to build a new entertainment district that is anchored by an arena,” said Muhammad.
Jason Kidd, Roy Jones Jr., Lawrence Taylor and Gary Clark are some of the athletes attached to advise the new venture, along with Ross Levinsohn a former top executive at Yahoo, Fox Sports and the LA Times.
With the help of Dubai-based Greenstone Equity Partners, Blacksun’s funds were pulled from a mix of high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors and the fund will exist at the intersection of sports, media, technology and real estate.
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