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One of America’s elite college sports conferences is close to finalising a deal that could reshape the economics of university athletics and accelerate the entry of private capital.
The Big 12 Conference is finalising a partnership with RedBird Capital Partners and Weatherford Capital that would make up to $500mn of funding available to its member schools, according to people briefed about the matter.
The deal is a sign of how college athletics is the next frontier of sports investing, as it professionalises and universities and conferences attract capital from investors. A landmark antitrust settlement in June allowed universities to share revenues with players, putting an end to the amateur model.
The structure is neither a sale of equity nor a conventional debt facility but a revenue-sharing arrangement designed to help colleges cope with mounting financial pressure, the people said.
Conferences — sprawling alliances of schools — compete in a variety of sports under the governance of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
At the heart of the deal is a problem that barely existed five years ago. The legalisation of “name, image and likeness” (NIL) payments in 2021 has allowed college athletes to earn money for endorsements, but the system has quickly morphed into an open market for talent fuelled by the so-called transfer portal.
Star players can now be lured between universities with multimillion-dollar packages, draining donor money that once flowed into athletic departments and leaving universities scrambling to plug widening budget gaps.
“College sports were never built to operate like businesses,” said one person involved in the discussions. “They don’t generate enough free cash flow, and the NIL system has exposed that brutally.”
RedBird’s pitch is that capital, paired with professionalised commercial operations, can stabilise the model.
Gerry Cardinale, RedBird’s founder, has built a reputation for investing in sports and media assets to help modernise the business structures and generate recurring revenue growth. Cardinale, who owns Italian Serie A team AC Milan, is also leading Paramount’s hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros Discovery alongside the Ellison family, underscoring how capital and content are colliding across entertainment and sport.
Under the proposed agreement, the investment firm would partner with the Big 12 to unlock new revenue streams — particularly sponsorships — while also offering schools the option to draw down capital in exchange for a share of future revenues. Schools would not give up ownership of the conference or their athletic departments, and participation would be voluntary.
“RedBird will also work with the Conference to identify complementary investment opportunities inside and outside of the collegiate athletics ecosystem that will create new revenue streams and long-term asset appreciation,” the Big 12 said in a statement to Yahoo Sports, which first reported the news.
People briefed on the deal say RedBird has already helped generate roughly $145mn in new contracted revenue for the conference through sponsorship agreements, demonstrating what it argues is under-monetised intellectual property across college sports. The capital facility would sit alongside that commercial effort, offering liquidity without forcing schools to lock in valuations or take on debt maturities they may struggle to service.
Conferences often struggle to reach consensus, with wealthier “big-market” programmes less motivated to embrace financial reform than smaller peers. The Big 12 deal is notable precisely because it represents rare collective action.
US college sports generate tens of billions of dollars in media rights and sponsorship, largely driven by the popularity of football and basketball. Yet universities remain legally distinct from professional franchises. The influx of private capital — even in hybrid forms such as revenue sharing — raises questions about governance, competitive balance and whether conferences themselves still make sense as intermediaries.
Supporters argue the model could help fund not just football and basketball, but also women’s sports and Olympic programmes that rely on revenue generated elsewhere. Critics worry it marks another step towards the outright professionalisation of college athletics.
Either way, people close to the talks say the Big 12 deal is unlikely to be the last.
“This is a first step,” one said. “Once you show that capital can fix the holes without taking control, others will follow.”
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