Check that, its a TERRIBLE idea.

This is all over YouTube. $1 Billion split by 16 is $62.5 Million each Big-12 school. The Big-12 front office will get a significant cut surely lessening that under $60 Million per school. That is just one good yearly pay day considering the soon to be projected yearly media payouts to the SEC & B1G. Will these CVC Capital Partners be ready to infuse more Billions into the Big-12 to accumulate more hunks of the Big-12 at a 15% - 20% a Billion? The Big-12 looks to be worth somewhere around $5 Billion to $6 Billion to the CVC Capital Partners. That would keep the Big-12 in high cotton alongside the SEC & B1G for 6 or 7 years into the future. Then CVC Capital Partners would totally own the Big-12. Would the Billion each year investments by CVC Capital Partners in the Big-12 continue thereafter? What would the incentive then be for CVC Capital Partners to continue investing Billions yearly into the Big-12? I see little incentive & you can bet the bank that CVC Capitol Partners will then be out to make big bucks. Not too interested in distributing money to the Big-12 members.

details to even begin to evaluate its viability. PE never gets involved until they are comfortable with the alternatives available for exit strategy and the exit strategy includes a return of capital plus a return on that capital. The linked article raises more questions than it answers. Big 12 fans should be concerned that the clown masquerading as the FSU AD likes it.

these days in big time college sports.

was left for dead. There was no safety net offered by the ACC, not even for WVU. The PAC laughed at taking truck stop flyover non politically correct schools. When you have nothing, you have nothing to lose. When you are clinging to the past, especially in this college football environment, you run the risk of being left behind. If it makes our schools competitive, and we continue to play at the highest level? Good, bad, or ugly - bring it on.

If not, it’s really bad.

desperation often makes for strange bedfellows, when the initial marriage glow is over.

look at the monopoly type moves the P2 has made, something like this may be something to pencil out. I was surprised to see the B12 mentioned, but 10% mitigates the risk somewhat. If you are a G5 conference however, sitting down and looking at the numbers might prove to be a catalyst of a break away conference of the highest caliber universities. Something I have read in an article or two.

Financial drain on the conference. Just sounds like such a bad idea, selling a 15 to 20% stake in the conference. Long-Term it's going to reduce their media payouts as there 's another group getting a share of the profits. And whatever windfall the schools get will be gone within a few years, and they will be left with lower media payouts. Don't see where this benefits, except for schools not planning to stick around long-term.

The Big 12 can’t “go public” can it? Once they do this there is no going back. The PE firm can only sell to another PE firm which isn’t going to happen if the first firm realizes the lions share of the upside. This is a disaster for all parties waiting to happen.

they can massively increase B12 revenues or they are going to take a bath. Given all the current uncertainties surrounding college athletics revenue and the increased uncertainty around conferences not in the P2 this looks like a flyer and PE firms do not generally do flyers. Specifics of the deal need to be known to see what may be the true transaction. For discussion purposes, a cash infusion of $800MM to $1B for a 15 to 20% interest values the Big 12 media rights between $4B and approximately $6.5B. Currently the Big 12 revenue as reported for 2024 was projected around $550MM. That revenue stream has to increase on average to somewhere between $667MM and $1.08 B to fall in the valuation range and that represents a revenue increase of approximately 20% to almost 100% over present levels. In addition, the return on investment component still comes out of the individual members' cash and the PE firm needs a buyer to exit. Seems like a stretch just in rough terms but, more details could sharpen the calculation.

rights for the league. They are being aggressive for sure

1. The naming rights thing is cringeworthy and reeks of a lack of seriousness. I am far from a brand valuation expert but if this is only worth $2-3M per year to each school, is it really worth it? On the other hand, the Premier League used to be sponsored by Barclays (they later ended the partnership to position themselves better vis a vis the NFL and NBA), the NASCAR leagues are sponsored, the G League is sponsored; it's certainly not a novel idea. From a brand identity perspective, I'd much prefer something like "the Big 12 presented by Allstate" with an Allstate logo incorporated with the current Big 12 branding for less money. Calling your conference the Big Allstate Conference or the Allstate 12 is absurd. I definitely got a laugh when it was reported today that the other conference considering this is C-USA. 2. Private equity getting a stake in college athletic conferences was a horrible idea when the Pac-12 considered it a few years ago, it was a horrible idea when FSU floated it a few months ago and it's a horrible idea today. People say the ACC signing a 20-year media rights deal was bad; that pales in comparison to selling a 20% equity stake in your conference. The ironic thing is, Yormark won't be the Big 12 commissioner forever and the Big 12 presidents and ADs advising them won't be in their roles forever; they can sell out now, reap the windfall, and leave their successors holding the bag. If I were a trustee of a Big 12 college I'd be burning the house down to stop this. Imagine, for example, a PE shop dictating that the Big 12 fire all of its officials and hire Texas HS referees instead to cut costs. When PE gets involved in businesses, it's to make them money at the expense of everything and everyone else. 3. I laughed when it was speculated in one of the articles today that the Big 12 thinks it can double its media rights value when its next deal comes up. Considering the first one hasn't even started yet and it's only a 6-year deal, that would suggest that Yormark got absolutely fleeced by ESPN and Fox. Now it's true he rushed to jump the line to beat the Pac-12 to the punch, and if I'm Iowa State or BYU I'm thrilled that he did; but many of the Big 12 schools could have found a home in the ACC or Pac-12 if the Big 12 had been the conference that collapsed...and they likely could have made more money in either. 4. If the Big 12 schools are seriously considering a cash infusion from PE, they better hope the ACC GOR holds. Because whatever CVC would make them sign would make the ACC GOR look like child's play. They're not stroking a billion dollar check and letting anyone leave, and if the ACC GOR doesn't hold, that's a bad, bad precedent. 5. Surely all of this "news" today has to be Yormark doing his carnival barker routine again, right? With the NBA and NHL finals coming to a close we're about to enter the dead period for sports for a few weeks. What better time to float some crazy news and get people talking about you? Any publicity is good publicity.

I guess we will find out how smart or stupid the conference leadership teams are. I would think/hope the conferences have good advisors to point out the shortcomings in these proposals. Ditto for the various universities.

are questionable in a rough first pass they do not get better when a sharper pencil is used for a deeper dive. The other generalization is PE guys are sharks, the kind that do the hunting and eating, rather than getting eaten like all the regular fish. The last thing is a take off on the old adage that when you're looking around the room trying to identify who the dumbest guy in the room might be it is wise to take a long look in the mirror to make sure it is not you. The money guys are able to spin fanciful tales that that have their prey seeing stars all the while stealing their prey's pants while they are still wearing them.

sports before long. Now the private equity play seems too intrusive for the modest annual bump. $1 Billion for 16 schools = $62.5 million each divided by (how many years?). Gotta give it to Yormark, he is not afraid to make the grand gesture, take a risk. Wonder how many conferenced will follow.

the same aggressive nature as the B12 did !