On the Dash:
- Dave Cantin Group has launched DCG Athlete Investment Services, a new advisory practice connecting dealership groups with professional athletes for long-term business partnerships.
- The service goes beyond celebrity endorsements, focusing on ownership structures built around shared goals and community commitment.
- DCG CEO Dave Cantin previously partnered with Super Bowl champion and dealer Brad Benson to operate one of the largest single-point dealerships in the country.
The leading automotive retail M&A advisory firm, Dave Cantin Group (DCG), has launched an Athlete Investment Services practice to advise dealership groups and professional athletes on forming strategic business partnerships that create mutual value.
Professional athletes have participated in the automotive retail industry for decades as owners, investors, and partners. Most of those relationships developed organically, though, without a consistent framework for evaluating fit, defining roles or maximizing long-term value for both sides. DCG created the new practice to help athletes and dealership groups approach those opportunities more strategically.
DCG’s CEO, Dave Cantin, brings firsthand experience to this practice, having previously collaborated with Super Bowl champion and automotive retailer Brad Benson. Additionally, DCG President Brian Gordon possesses over two decades of experience in advising major brands on sports marketing, sponsorship strategies, and athlete partnerships.
Why the timing matters
While consolidation continues across automotive retail, pushing competition increasingly to the community level, where trust, visibility and local engagement have become meaningful advantages. Simultaneously, dealership groups are looking for ways to differentiate themselves from competitors, customers, employees, and other stakeholders at the market level.
According to Gordon in the company’s release, “The industry is wrestling with a shift toward more intense local competition for attention and differentiation.” Adding that, “Customers are pushing dealerships to become more consumer-centric, demanding trust, authenticity, convenience and unique custom experiences. The groups that will stand out are the ones that can create real customer engagement throughout their communities, and athletes can play a unique role in helping them do that.”
Real partnership experience
DCG’s new practice helps both parties evaluate potential partnerships based on shared business objectives, market dynamics, cultural fit, community alignment and short- and long-term goals. According to Cantin in the company’s release, “Professional athletes understand competition, leadership and community impact. Those qualities align naturally with automotive retail.”
For instance, former college football coach Nick Saban has built one of the most substantial athlete-backed dealership groups in the country. Saban co-owns Dreams Motor Group with veteran dealer Joe Agresti, a partnership that has grown from a single Mercedes-Benz dealership into a nine-store portfolio spanning Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas and Florida, including a Ferrari dealership in Nashville.
Retired Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser joined the ownership team of a Chevrolet dealership in Chino, California, this spring, partnering with a managing partner who brings over three decades of auto retail experience. NASCAR driver Joey Logano owns Huntersville Ford in North Carolina alongside business partner Stacy Cowan.
Nevertheless, the launch expands DCG’s growing portfolio of M&A advisory services supporting dealership owners, investors and operators throughout the country.
