​Photo: Thrive’s Josh Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger explore bid to acquire NBA Las Vegas’ expansion team.Sports has officially entered its technology era.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFor too long have the technological elite largely stayed away from sports because teams felt less like compounding assets and more like expensive, profit-losing trophies – especially, when the opportunity cost is reinvesting that capital into new technologies.We remember vividly the barrage of criticism former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer faced when he made a big splash by buying the Clippers for $2B back in 2014.Economist Andrew Zimbalist on TIME framed it as a wealthy tech executive “making a vanity purchase – he’s buying a toy.”Fast forward to today, Forbes valued the Clippers at $7.5B, legendary tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla’s group just acquired the Seahawks for $9.6B, and Thrive’s Josh Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger are exploring a bid for a potential NBA expansion franchise in Las Vegas.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe tech elite have finally come to the conclusion that we all did a long time ago: sports is an asset class worth investing in.In this newsletter, we’ll tell you why – and what this could mean for the industry long-term.Sports is the ultimate AI-hedge.No matter how automated everything becomes through AI – software, professional services, advanced manufacturing – it’s impossible to uproot the intangible human experience that sports provides, along with all of the generational IP that has sprouted from it.To his credit, Reddit co-founder and sports investor Alexis Ohanian was super early on this. He was on TBPN this Monday setting the record straight:“There is footage from, I think, two and a half years ago at Cannes Lions where I call sports the ultimate anti-AI bet. Even when you can have a pixel-perfect highlight of Mbappé scoring a goal, it will do nothing for the soul because it never actually happened. The human experience is the reason why it’s valuable. We are now seeing a moment where the smartest folks in venture capital [are] realizing this is not just a trophy asset.” Two months ago, Josh Kushner diversified into sports.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe venture capitalist whose firm seeded Instagram and Spotify launched Thrive Eternal, a permanent-capital holding company that invests in a small number of assets to steward for decades to come.First agreed investment?A minority stake in the San Francisco Giants, one of the most iconic sports franchises in America.Two weeks ago, it was reported that he’s exploring a bid for a potential NBA expansion team in Las Vegas through Thrive Eternal alongside Bob Iger.2/2 in sports.Josh’s manifesto on Thrive Eternal not only tells us why, but it also tells us where the technological elite see the opportunity in this industry:The Why’s: “These are assets with qualities that cannot be replicat