Big Ten Courts Private Equity Investment, Retains Evercore

[NJDuck]

 

 

The Big Ten Conference is taking preliminary bids from private equity firms despite past comments from commissioner Tony Petitti questioning the upside of involving institutional capital in college sports.

 

According to multiple people familiar with the situation, the conference previously retained investment bank Evercore, which solicited a first round of indicative offers from PE firms this week, just before a key deadline in the House v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit that could fundamentally change the economics of intercollegiate athletics.

 

 

Big Ten Courts Private Equity Investment, Retains Evercore

WWW.SPORTICO.COM

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America's richest athletic conference has retained investment bank Evercore to solicit bids from PE investors.

 

[Charles Fischer]

If private equity wants in....that is a terrible reflection of college athletic administration management.  That means ADs have SO MISSED so many opportunities the outside investors not only see, but believe they can make huge returns on their investment.

 

PE does not want a nice return; they look for B1G returns, and that means a TON has been left on the table by ADs in the B1G...

 

[Mike West]

That’s a good assessment.  But we’re talking about public institutions here.  Profit isn’t their first consideration.  Especially since they acquire a good portion of their revenue from Government grants, research and Endowments.

 

This more than likely stems from them not having had to compete like they currently do now.  The stakes are real now because it’s actual competition instead of structured competition.  Losing has real consequences. 

 

 

[Charles Fischer]

On 1/31/2025 at 4:15 PM, Mike West said:

That’s a good assessment.  But we’re talking about public institutions here.  Profit isn’t their first consideration.  Especially since they acquire a good portion of their revenue from Government grants, research and Endowments.

 

This more than likely stems from them not having had to compete like they currently do now.  The stakes are real now because it’s actual competition instead of structured competition.  Losing has real consequences. 

 

 

You know...even if the Private Equity makes a boatload of money....the chances are excellent that the athletic departments will make more with their minority share than they are now.

 

Because if the ADs did not see the opportunity before...how would they have the expertise to capitalize on it now?

 

[Jon Joseph]

 

With private equity, the B1G gets to capitalize on its equity built up for over 100 years; Once.

 

Why not do what makes long-term sense? Form the Football Super Conference. Stop selling inventory to media companies who flip the inventory to advertisers. Sell the inventory directly. If money is needed short term to cover a shortfall, leverage future Super Conference advertising receivables. 

 

Form a Super Conference Network, akin to the NFL Network. Sell broadcast time directly to advertisers and stream the product on Venu. Bargain with a players union. Obtain Congressional relief from antitrust litigation so Venu, in effect a combined B1G and SEC Network, can go to the marketplace.  

 

Do Not enter into the House settlement which settles nothing. If Congressional relief is not available (the author of the memo approving unions for college athletes and the memo stating that Title IX applies to revenue sharing, are no longer employed) use power of the Power 2 to convince NCAA members to have the NCAA file BK. File a Plan of Arrangement that settles House and all other litigation, filed now or in the future. Even though it is a non-profit organization the NCAA can file for bankruptcy relief. 

 

The Plan will likely be appealed to a Supreme Court that can by-pass Congress if needed by confirming the plan.

 

Keeping the same system in place and selling equity to a private equity concern is not a panacea. It does not bar litigation, resolve Title IX issues, resolve employer-employee issues, resolve player union issues, resolve transfer issues, etc. It does provide another monied interest, Equity Firm X, for litigants to shoot at.

 

Of course, I respect Tony Petitti's resume and understand that he has to keep all oars in the water. 

[NJDuck]

 

Is Venture Capital Coming To College Football?

 

 

[Solar]

On 1/31/2025 at 4:56 PM, Jon Joseph said:

 

With private equity, the B1G gets to capitalize on its equity built up for over 100 years; Once.

 

Why not do what makes long-term sense? Form the Football Super Conference. Stop selling inventory to media companies who flip the inventory to advertisers. Sell the inventory directly. If money is needed short term to cover a shortfall, leverage future Super Conference advertising receivables. 

 

Form a Super Conference Network, akin to the NFL Network. Sell broadcast time directly to advertisers and stream the product on Venu. Bargain with a players union. Obtain Congressional relief from antitrust litigation so Venu, in effect a combined B1G and SEC Network, can go to the marketplace.  

 

Do Not enter into the House settlement which settles nothing. If Congressional relief is not available (the author of the memo approving unions for college athletes and the memo stating that Title IX applies to revenue sharing, are no longer employed) use power of the Power 2 to convince NCAA members to have the NCAA file BK. File a Plan of Arrangement that settles House and all other litigation, filed now or in the future. Even though it is a non-profit organization the NCAA can file for bankruptcy relief. 

 

The Plan will likely be appealed to a Supreme Court that can by-pass Congress if needed by confirming the plan.

 

Keeping the same system in place and selling equity to a private equity concern is not a panacea. It does not bar litigation, resolve Title IX issues, resolve employer-employee issues, resolve player union issues, resolve transfer issues, etc. It does provide another monied interest, Equity Firm X, for litigants to shoot at.

 

Of course, I respect Tony Petitti's resume and understand that he has to keep all oars in the water. 

If the B1G is too lazy or unskilled to execute and manage those things then I could see them trading away that responsibility along with an equity stake.

 

Obviously a 49% share for private equity would optimal, but I think they'd want 51% to be able to dictate outcomes to their advantage at the expense of everyone else if necessary to maximize their return on equity.

 

Therein lies the problem. You're turning over you organizational decision making to an entity that has only one objective, returns on investment.

 

Unchecked free market capitalism we've become so famous for that grabs every possible advantage to squeeze as much money as possible from as many people as possible as long as it is legal or will be legal after greasing a few palms in the right high places.

 

They would squeeze the taxpayers and students of the public universities, the private university students, all coaches, the players, the fans, the advertisers, the janitors, etc. Everyone becomes mark.

 

Will we get a benevolent PE firm (about as common as unicorns), or a United Healthcare type firm (worst case scenario), or something in between (most likely)?

 

It definitely makes me nervous.

 

We already get a taste of that from Fox and ESPN, stopped clocks to run more plays exchanged for running clocks and 2 minutes warning loaded with commercials. PE just takes that 360 degrees no stone left unturned.

Edited February 5 by Solar