The Big 12 Conference is in serious discussions with Luxembourg-based CVC Capital Partners ("CVC Capital") to enter into the first major private equity investment deal with a Power Five Conference. At the moment, the deal appears to be structured where CVC Capital would provide the Big 12 with a cash infusion of anywhere between $800 million to $1 billion in exchange for a 15-20% stake in the league. CVC Capital's monetary contributions would then be apportioned to each of the sixteen conference members, and the partnership would give the conference more accessibility to CVC Capital's investment services and clients—likely to help facilitate NIL deals for Big 12 student athletes.
This deal is far from finalized, but is in line with what we have seen in the college sports industry following the House v. NCAA settlement announcement. School's athletic programs are clearly searching for additional revenue streams due to the future revenue sharing with student athletes. It did not take long for Private Equity funds to capitalize on this opportunity. It will be very interesting to following this negotiation and potential deal because while a Private Equity fund cannot take an ownership percentage in an individual school's athletic department, they can take an ownership interest in the Conferences. For the Big 12 Conference, this new revenue stream would also help move its member insitutions closer to the Big Ten's and SEC's member institution's yearly earnings, which would help the Big 12 Conference stay together unlike other Power Conferences—e.g., the Pac-12.
Private equity is an inevitability for college sports as schools seek additional revenue streams from other sources. Stay tuned for more updates on all major developments in this space.
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