Professional football and baseball players have long made money from their likenesses in videogames and on trading cards. Now they are teaming up with a private-equity firm in an unprecedented deal to amp up that revenue and invest it.

The players associations of the National Football League and Major League Baseball have struck a deal with RedBird Capital Partners to form a new company called OneTeam Partners LLC, which will be centered around the management of the players’ portrayals, the parties said.

RedBird has made an initial investment of $125 million and will own a roughly 40% stake in OneTeam. The players associations will own the rest.The company is also in talks with other U.S. players unions and could eventually expand internationally.

The two players associations get roughly $120 million in combined annual revenue from licensing deals with companies including videogame publishers Electronic Arts Inc. and Sony Corp. and trading-card maker Panini America Inc. They plan to pool that together with the RedBird commitment and invest in projects that expand opportunities to license their group name, image and likeness rights.

A portion of revenue from videogame and card licensing and marketing has historically been distributed to NFL and MLB players, with some covering union operating expenses. The players will still get their usual payout under the new deal, but OneTeam can now invest its new capital in business ventures.