Fenway Sports Group, which co-owns Roush Fenway Racing, has added NBA icon LeBron James as a partner, according to a report in The Boston Globe.
Fenway Sports Group partnered with Roush Racing in 2007 to form Roush Fenway Racing. Fenway Sports Group owns 50% of Roush Fenway Racing. Fenway Sports Group also owns the Boston Red Sox and LIverpool FC of the English Premier League, among other sports properties.
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The Globe reported that James owns an undisclosed amount of Fenway Sport Group shares. Also joining James, according to the report, is Maverick Carter, who is James’ longtime business partner and friend. They are the first black partners in the Fenway Sports Group.
Carter has previous ties to NASCAR. Roush Fenway Racing connected Bubba Wallace with Carter to help with branding and sponsorship in 2015 when Wallace drove for the team in the Xfinity Series.
James expressed his support of Wallace last year when a noose was found in the garage stall of Wallace’s team at Talladega Superspeedway. An FBI investigation concluded that no hate crime had been committed because evidence showed that the noose had been in place in that stall several months earlier, well before anyone could have known Wallace’s team later would have that garage stall.
James, a four-time NBA MVP, led the Los Angeles Lakers to the NBA championship last season. He follows another NBA icon into NASCAR.
Michael Jordan, a six-time NBA champion, joined Denny Hamlin as co-owners of 23XI Racing last year. Wallace is the team’s driver. He is coming off a season-best 16th-place finish last weekend at Phoenix Raceway.