Big 12 considering private equity investment of up to $1 billion for as much as 20% of conference
429 Too Many Requests
This "good or bad" question will absolutely depend on the specifics of the deal, but the story certainly highlights what a weird place we're in these days.
Why would PE even buy in here? The Big 12 has no major teams anymore, there's not really a revenue hack to get more money, the schools are independent of the conference so they can still leave. Best case the Big 12 becomes the clear #3 and the SEC and B1G throw them some scraps.
Mark my words history will eventually recall two days where the us president saved college football. Seriously short of an executive order controlling the money in the sport how can we possibly un-fuck this sport?
Next time on “Big 12 Shenanigans”, Yormark announces that the PE partners have determined that the conference is replacing all teams with AI
This is such a misstep of they go forward with it. Firstly, because it actually gives up equity, rather than the "private capital" discussions floated lately (which is still gross but not as bad). Secondly, it makes no sense for the Big XII specifically. Unless they expect Utah to become a perennial title contender or something, why do they feel the need to try to match the level of funding of the super 2?
It doesn't exactly surprise me though, coming from Yormark. His creative thinking and aggressive expansion probably saved his conference. But I heard an interview (I think on Joel Klatt's podcast) where he came off as a such a pretentious ass. Hyper business focused and does not care at all about the history and tradition of the sport. I have a hunch he is trying to kneecap the ACC, but why would he? The new playoff system with the 4 first round byes is actually fantastic for those 2 conferences.
Also, the article quoted Gerry Cardinale, and although Redbird might not be involved in this deal no one should trust him. He mismanaged the XFL last year.
Very possibly, but kneecapping the ACC means the current B12 membership necessarily forms the core of any future "Conference three" that the Super 2 would likely want to have around for anti-trust reasons, and I think that pragmatism has been no small part of why the B12 outlasted the PAC and might outlast the ACC. Then, you have to tell me what "equity" even means for a college athletic conference. The devil is in the details here. Do they own 20% of the revenue in perpetuity, or just the current and subsequent media deals? Do they own 20% of anything if the schools vote to dissolve the conference between media deals?
It could absolutely be a disaster, but CFB is kind of already a disaster if you're not in the B1G or SEC. As for traditions, the bigger schools already decided that their own shared traditions with the B12's current membership were insufficient, so while Yormark's execution may end up better or worse, I don't see a philosophical problem with the B12 maintaining the "tradition" that they play at the highest level of the sport. If that means he needs to be jettisoned once the schools feel safer, then so be it, but right now I think they believe he's still the right person for the job. I hope they're right.
Also, all my half-assed flair extensions are dead due to my moving over from KBin and various OS and browser updates. I gotta figure something out before the Dublin game kicks off.
The more I think about it, it's not as bad a deal for the conference as it would be for the PE firm because you're probably right about the conference's limited assets. Money from TV deals, CFP, and the NCAA tourney is pretty much all they own, which by itself doesn't generate more revenue. Unless the trademarks of a conference whose name is an oxymoron and real estate in Irving or something are super attractive to this European company, lol. The real value belongs to the members themselves who could leave at any time or call the whole thing off.
I wouldn't be surprised if this falls apart, especially since it sounds like it was a side pursuit of Yormark and a few Big XII schools rather than the whole league.
And yeah, until user tags get implemented I also have to figure out some hack for flair. On my to-do list after looking into a real game day bot.
Oh lawd. This will not end well.