Brent Lawrence

Brent Lawrence is the Founder and CEO of Accelerate Sports Inc., a boutique investment bank and corporate advisory firm headquartered in Manhattan Beach, California, that focuses on sports-related business, professional teams and leagues. At the firm he serves as the lead negotiator and directs partnership-development efforts, guiding clients through M&A, private equity and venture capital transactions on both the buy-side and sell-side as well as capital raises. Before founding Accelerate Sports, he practiced as an M&A and corporate securities attorney for nearly two decades.

A San Diego native, Lawrence played college basketball at UC Riverside, where his team reached the NCAA Division II Final Four. He earned a B.S. in Business Administration (cum laude) from UC Riverside, a J.D. from the University of San Diego College of Law, and an MBA in Finance (cum laude) from the UC Davis Graduate School of Management. He holds FINRA Series 79 and Series 63 securities licenses and is a registered agent of Rainmaker Securities, LLC.

Over his career he has advised on transactions involving prominent sports properties including the Sacramento Kings (NBA), Arizona Coyotes (NHL), the San Diego MLS expansion, the Seattle Sounders, and Atlético Ottawa (Canadian Premier League). Outside of dealmaking, he has been active in the Sacramento community — serving as board chairman of the Positive Coaching Alliance and coaching boys varsity basketball at Christian Brothers High School, where his team won a Sacramento Section championship. He is also a member of the Sports Lawyers Association, the Olympic Club of San Francisco, and the Entrepreneurs Organization.

• Concentrates exclusively on the sports and esports economy — professional teams/leagues, sports real estate, and sports-technology/media companies operating in marketing, in-game experience, second-screen apps and games, gaming, ticketing, social media, digital content and fantasy sports.
• Positions the firm "at the forefront of the convergence of Technology/Digital Media, Real Estate, Sports and eSports," providing sell-side, buy-side and capital-raising advisory.
• Works across the capital stack — from early-stage/Series A financings for sports-tech and new leagues to franchise-level M&A, limited-partner stake sales, and private-equity transactions.
• Values are grounded in a legal/securities and operating background (M&A attorney, FINRA-licensed), so the firm emphasizes clean deal structuring and negotiation as much as capital access.