Lamar Jackson with the winners of the 2025 NTL Kickoff Race.
Courtesy: Nationwide Thoroughbred League
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has a singular aim each on the soccer discipline and as proprietor of the Maryland Colts horse racing franchise within the Nationwide Thoroughbred League.
“I simply wish to win a championship,” Jackson instructed CNBC. “I wish to win one within the Nationwide Soccer League. I wish to win one within the NTL.”
Jackson bought the Maryland Colts in 2024, basing the franchise in Baltimore the place the Colt moniker was beforehand connected to a Tremendous Bowl-winning Nationwide Soccer League workforce.
The Maryland Colts are a part of the 10-franchise NTL, which operates a brand new team-based idea for horse racing. Groups earn factors primarily based on how their horses and jockeys end in every competitors, just like auto racing. These factors are totaled on the finish of the season to find out the winner of the NTL Championship.
Jackson is a part of a rising development of energetic and retired NFL quarterbacks in search of fairness in sports activities groups.
Legendary quarterback Tom Brady is a minority proprietor within the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders, and former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning is a minority proprietor within the Nationwide Basketball Affiliation’s Memphis Grizzlies.
Present Kansas Metropolis Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has a stake within the Kansas Metropolis Royals of Main League Baseball, Sporting Kansas Metropolis of Main League Soccer and the Miami Pickleball Membership of Main League Pickleball. He additionally invested in Components 1’s Alpine auto racing workforce.
Jackson mentioned past the Colts, he has no quick plans to take possession in different sports activities groups. As an alternative, the two-time NFL Most Useful Participant is targeted on creating an impression.
“After we need to make investments, it must be one thing significant. I’ve to see long-term objectives once I’m doing one thing,” Jackson mentioned. “That is how I transfer once I’m within the investing area.”
Along with bringing a horse racing workforce to the town, Jackson hopes to carry new alternatives to the younger individuals of Baltimore.
Lamar Jackson indicators a soccer for a younger fan.
Courtesy: Nationwide Thoroughbred League
On Saturday, because the NTL kicked off its 2025 season at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Jackson hosted a group day the place he invited younger individuals to find out about horse racing and careers within the business.
“The rationale I acquired concerned within the NTL is I noticed the imaginative and prescient. Giving again to the underprivileged, this can be a no-brainer for me,” he mentioned. “There are a number of underprivileged youngsters in Baltimore, and so they have a look at the soccer gamers for hope and steerage.”
The Colts positioned third within the opening race weekend.
Jackson performed school soccer on the College of Louisville, a couple of mile away from famed race monitor Churchill Downs, residence of the Kentucky Derby. However Lamar mentioned he by no means attended the race whereas in school.
Nonetheless, his love for horses began a lot youthful, as he grew up in Florida.
“I used to be all the time intrigued with horses,” Jackson mentioned, “I am from Cypress, a small city in Pompano Seaside. There was all the time this horse monitor and horse racing occurring in our space.”
The NTL is only one of many efforts to modernize horse racing. All three tracks that host the Triple Crown of horse racing have deliberate tasks to modernize and appeal to new followers.
Churchill Downs introduced a virtually $1 billion renovation plan in February earlier than suspending these plans attributable to tariffs. Pimlico, which hosts the Preakness, will start a $400 million renovation after the race on Saturday. Belmont Park within the suburbs of New York Metropolis is within the technique of a greater than $455 million renovation.
