GET DAILY REPORT FREE
With the NCAA poised to agree this week on a legal settlement that could soon see schools paying tens of millions to players every year, college sports’ business model could be upended, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Along with ending amateur athletics, the college sports industry has long maintained that revenue sharing would make many programs financially infeasible to maintain.
As The Wall Street Journal writes, private equity could offer a solution.
One company, Collegiate Athletic Solutions, plans to invest $50 million to $200 million apiece in a select group of universities. The company is a partnership between two capital private equity groups, RedBird and Weatherford Capital. Weatherford Capital’s leadership has experience in college athletics—the company was founded by former Florida State quarterback Drew Weatherford, who is also a member of the school’s board of trustees.
Executives with CAS say they plan to invest in five to 10 schools to start and are in talks with dozens more, including members of every power conference.
The idea is to build businesses that help monetize a school’s intellectual property and provide them with the advice and capital to do that at a time when the stakes have never been higher, according to CAS.
