Huh - I guess that solves any NIL money woes the U may have had?
I wouldn’t expect ticket prices to stay the same.
I hate what has happened to college sports. I’m really this close to being done with it all and maybe picking a D3 school to follow.
I am a BYU fan and I agree with you. It has become all about the Benjamins in college sports. I remember when Nick Sabin retired from Alabama he said “Players used to ask me how I could get them ready for the next level, now they ask how much I can pay them.” Not something that will play well in the future.
Strikes me as a relatively benign move by the U, at least as far as private equity is ever benign to who it funds. Glad that the school can buy out Otro in a few years.
The cash infusion will be nice, but at what cost? I suppose you should just color me skeptical of this. I don’t trust PE much. We all should remember what PE did to companies in the late '80s and '90s: wiped out many companies and killed off many jobs ASAP in the name of efficiency.
I hope my pessimism is wrong, but I don’t trust PE.
I am worried about the “Swinging Corporate Raiders” too.
Vampire Capitalism and sports entertainment screams WWE.
Yeah, there’s no “college” about it anymore. We’re in the minor leagues now.
I get why we’re doing it, but selling out athletics to private equity is just another signal for the continued downward spiral of college sports.
I suppose I should be happy that we’re catching up in the money race, but…blech.
“Minor league” where some college players are making more than bench players in the NBA.
Was it here or somewhere else that I read where Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith is making more to play in college than Jaxon Smith-Njigba is making right now in the NFL? Ridiculous.
This move makes me 100% convinced it’s time to eliminate all the academic aspects of the sport. They are professional athletes working for a private business.
The U can lease the stadium and their name out but at this point drop student fees and university funds going to it and no more scholarships. The kids making more than any professor can pay their own tuition IF they even want to go.
I’m of two minds on this:
- In LSU terms, it bleauxs that money is driving so much in college athletics. I share the sentiment of many here.
- Without getting (too) political, it’s a byproduct of our current distribution of wealth.
In other words, there’s a LOT of money sloshing around up there. The US now has over 1,100 Billionaires. If Utah athletics gets some of that… I’m OK with not being left behind.
Private equity ruins everything it touches. Although one could easily argue that the system is already ruined, so what difference does it make?
This.
And simultaneously this.
Being old and childless gives me a certain cynical liberty to say “wow the future is so screwed. Whelp, it was nice while it lasted.”
Though I’m honestly never able to reach that level of zen apathy.
this seems like quite a gamble. if college sports were like a soccer league and you could be certain you’d get promoted based on results, i would maybe understand a bit more -
But where does the future increased revenue come from? The Big XII GoR goes until 2031 at which point TV revenue $ stream is uncertain. In 2032 is Utah then a lock for the B1G? Does the B1G even exist after 2036 (or does USC and Michigan take and negotiate their own TV deals - or do they leave with others and form another conference?)
And even if Utah does get into the B1G - mid tier schools there are barely breaking even as the cost to be competitive scaling up. If utah is able to get like like $50mm-$75mm more per year in the big ten, how much of that goes back to the PE sponsors, the more expensive coaches and athletes?
There is no imminent breakaway league or conference upgrades - these trajectories are far far from certain. Utah or any team like them is just a few short years away from being oregon state or washington state but with the possibility for huge economic losses on top of that.
Is it really going to be that much different than having Utah Sports Properties, Learfield, etc running the branding, advertising, partnerships, etc.? Other than being a PE firm in this case? Seems like it is just another similar avenue but with more money at play.
i would expect that’s just subcontracting. This is very different - this group is going to own 25-49% (assuming 1b - 2b valuation) of all utah athletics net income indefinitely (unless utah comes up with a spare $500mm to buy themselves out). They will also be looking for a a profit not just an athletic budget that breaks even.
I just thought of something. Has the Utah religislature approved of this yet? I can see a serious audit coming the way of the Utah athletic program.
these aren’t donations, these are deals with the devil - and if this goes as intended it will increase wealth concentration, not distribute it.