Big 12 eyes private equity, naming rights deal

The Big 12 isn’t waiting for the next era of college sports to start shaking things up.

On Thursday, Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports reported that the conference was considering taking a private equity investment that would net the Big 12 between $800 million and $1 billion from CVC Capital Partners in exchange for a 15-to- 20% in the Big 12.

This development is not completely unexpected. Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark suggested as much when speaking to reporters after the Big 12 spring business meetings.

“Obviously, a lot of people are thinking about private equity,” Yormark said. “You know, I think in some ways, private equity is a validation of where this industry is going and the growth trajectory that we’re all on. So, I don’t see that as a bad thing. I was in the NBA when private equity started coming. You see the NFL is about to open its doors to private equity, so that’s not foreign, and certainly not foreign to me.

Later Wednesday, Yahoo Sports reporter Ross Dellenger reported that the Big 12 was exploring a naming rights deal that could swap the word “Big” for a sponsor’s name.

Both proposals are undoubtedly fueled by a future model in which college athletes, particularly football players, would engage in a revenue-sharing model. However, Florida State policymakers have been weighing in on the future of private equity in college sports before recent lawsuits put revenue sharing firmly on the table.

“At the academic level, and we’ve known for probably a year or two that at some point we’re going to have to have some sort of revenue sharing model,” Linda Livingstone, Big 12 board chair and Baylor president. » said on May 31. “So we’ve all been thinking about what that might look like…and certainly not just at the conference, but at the school level, how we can increase our revenue to help manage the payments that we’ll be having. duty to student-athletes.