The collateral is so so and some have preferences such as certain asset classes they will invest in, but generally speaking, you can obtain an equity deal with very little skin in the game. 

Hi Marcus,There are many ways to skin a cat per se lolPersonally, I'd rather have volume and 10 "in da hood" where the numbers don't lie and where I know what I'm doing.Then buying using a tonne of leverage and hoping the market will appreciate."

So you will need to have skin in the game.

It’s just the nature of the beast.

A good one will also have skin in the game and will even be able to bring new acquisitions to your attention.

Since I have a long-term interest in getting into hotel investing, this feels like a natural stepping stone, but I want to approach it the right way.I feel like this is such a great opportunity, especially with it being off market.

You have a natural advantage with other baseball players and providing them leases that fit their needs.Knowing a couple of others who have played minor league ball, your real estate strategy is going to be tricky because you will be very busy with baseball and it's travel. 

Our offices are in the southern parts of the US so naturally we're more comfortable with buying in our backyard.

Just curious, when you mentioned other strategies, did you mean strategies such as Air B&B, guest homes, glamping, things of that nature?

I would guess that you have little or no experience running any kind of STR, and now want to get that experience on the back of someone else's investment, with little or no personal skin in the game, and that's not a good way to build an investment portfolio.