Detroit Pistons’ Cade Cunningham buys minority ownership stake in Texas Rangers

Detroit Pistons All-Star Cade Cunningham has purchased a minority ownership stake in his hometown baseball team, the Texas Rangers.

A native of Arlington, Cunningham is among the athlete investors in private equity firm Sportsology Capital Partners, which recently completed a minority investment in the MLB team, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Thursday.

Financial terms of the deal were not announced.

Cunningham, 24, attended Bowie High in Arlington before concluding his high school career at Florida’s Montverde Academy. The No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft threw out the first pitch at a Rangers-Baltimore Orioles game last July.

Cunningham joins a growing list of active professional athletes who have ownership stakes in professional teams.

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Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes owns minority stakes in the Kansas City Royals and Sporting KC (MLS). Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has a minority stake in Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool FC. And Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo has a stake in the Milwaukee Brewers.

Sportsology is a private investment firm focused on sports franchises and global sports platforms. The Rangers minority stake marks its entry into MLB investments.

Two North Texas business leaders — Joe Pastora and Garrick Patterson — announced their participation in the minority investment, telling The Dallas Morning News in a statement that they are the largest limited partner investor in the deal.

Pastora, a Dallas-based real estate investor and operating executive, is an owner and Managing Partner at Stockdale Investment Group. In a statement, he called investing with Sportsology in the Rangers a “landmark moment.”

“They are a premier sports franchise with strong leadership in a high-growth market,” he added. “We believe in the long-term value of professional sports, and this created an opportunity that we couldn’t pass up.”

Patterson is a principal at P4 Capital, LLC, with a focus on strategic investment, development, and opportunities across industries from oil and gas to real estate.

“As a lifelong fan and former baseball player, the Texas Rangers are a dream investment,” Patterson said in a statement. “From an investor’s perspective, trends in media streaming, sports gambling and prediction markets make this an ideal time to participate.”

In 2025, the Rangers, whose majority owner is Ray Davis, had a valuation of $2.47 billion, according to Sportico.

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