One of America’s elite college sports conferences is close to finalizing a deal that could reshape the economics of college athletics and accelerate the entry of private capital.
The Big 12 Conference is finalizing a partnership with RedBird Capital Partners and Weatherford Capital that will make up to $500 million in funding available to its member universities, according to people familiar with the matter.
The deal is a sign of how college athletics is the next frontier of sports investing, as it becomes professional and universities and conferences attract investor capital. A landmark antitrust settlement in June allowed universities to share revenue with players, ending the amateur model.
The structure was neither an equity sale nor conventional debt financing, but a revenue-sharing arrangement designed to help universities deal with growing financial pressure, the sources said.
Conferences—broad alliances of schools—compete in a variety of sports under the governance of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
At the heart of the agreement is a problem that barely existed five years ago. The legalization of “name, image and likeness” (NIL) payments in 2021 allowed college athletes to earn money from sponsorships, but the system quickly turned into an open market for talent, driven by the so-called “transfer portal.”
Star players can now be lured away by multimillion-dollar packages, draining donor money that once flowed to athletics departments and leaving universities struggling to cover ever-widening budget deficits.
“College sports were never designed to operate like businesses,” said one person involved in the discussions. “They don’t generate enough free cash flow, and the NIL system brutally exposed that.”
RedBird’s proposal is that capital, combined with professionalized commercial operations, can stabilize the model.
Gerry Cardinale, founder of RedBird, has built a reputation for investing in sports and media assets to help modernize business structures and generate recurring revenue growth. Cardinale, who owns Italian club Milan, is also leading the hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount, together with the Ellison family, which demonstrates how capital and content are converging in the entertainment and sports sectors.
Under the proposed deal, the investment firm would partner with the Big 12 to unlock new sources of revenue — primarily sponsorships — while also offering universities the option to raise capital in exchange for a share of future revenue. Universities would not give up ownership of the conference or their athletics departments, and participation would be voluntary.
“RedBird will also work with the Conference to identify complementary investment opportunities within and outside the college athletics ecosystem that will create new sources of revenue and long-term asset appreciation,” the Big 12 said in a statement to Yahoo Sports, which first reported the news.
Sources familiar with the deal say RedBird has already helped generate approximately $145 million in new contracted revenue for the Conference through sponsorship deals, demonstrating what it considers to be under-monetized intellectual property in college sports. Financing would complement this commercial effort, offering liquidity without forcing universities to set valuations or take on debt with maturities that they may have difficulty meeting.
Conferences often have difficulty reaching consensus, with wealthier, “big market” programs less motivated to adopt financial reforms than their smaller peers. The Big 12 settlement is notable precisely because it represents a rare collective action.
American college sports generates tens of billions of dollars in media and sponsorship rights, driven primarily by the popularity of football and basketball. However, universities remain legally distinct from professional franchises. The influx of private capital — even in hybrid forms like revenue sharing — raises questions about governance, competitive balance, and whether conferences themselves still make sense as intermediaries.
Proponents argue the model could help fund not just football and basketball, but also women’s sports and Olympic programs that rely on revenue generated in other areas. Critics fear this represents another step toward the full professionalization of college sports.
In any case, people close to the negotiations say the Big 12 deal probably won’t be the last.
“This is a first step,” said one. “Once it is demonstrated that capital can solve problems without taking control, others will follow suit.”
