Big 12 Closing In on Potential $500M Private-Capital Deal

The Big 12 is approaching a potential $500 million private-capital agreement with RedBird Capital Partners and Weatherford Capital, Front Office Sports has confirmed. Yahoo first reported the news.

The two sides are still in discussions but are closing in on an agreement, a source familiar with the matter tells FOS. The talks highlight how the University of Utah’s private-equity deal opened the door for private capital in college sports. 

The firms would not receive any equity in the conference, the source says, and member schools will have the ability to opt in or out. In a statement shared with Yahoo, the Big 12 said that a deal is not yet final, and that in addition to the private-capital component, the parties would enter into a wider “strategic business partnership.”

RedBird Capital is a New York–based private-equity firm; Weatherford Capital is a private investment firm with offices in Tampa, Fla., and Dallas, Texas. (RedBird IMI, of which RedBird Capital Partners is a joint venture partner, is the primary investor in Front Office Sports.)

If a deal is completed, it will mark the first conference-level private-capital transaction in college athletics. 

The University of Utah—which is a member of the Big 12—broke the seal on private equity in college sports earlier this week when it announced an agreement with Otro Capital (led by former RedBird partners). That deal will see Utah form a corporate entity aimed at maximizing revenue for the school’s athletic department. Utah will hold a majority stake, and Otro will hold a minority stake.

Under the terms of the Big 12 deal being discussed, member schools would not be restricted from pursuing additional capital elsewhere, the source says. 

The Big 12 has been weighing potential private-capital investment for some time; FOS reported in June 2024 it was considering a private-equity deal with CVC Capital Partners, although by May of this year, commissioner Brett Yormark told FOS the conference was “not ready to go in that direction” yet.

Yormark did leave the door open, saying at the time, “We’ll see what happens in the future.”

Experts told FOS this week that Utah’s landmark deal would lead to other schools, and potentially conferences, doing deals of their own—although the expectation is that it will be a trickle, not a flood.

There have been numerous discussions among various schools, conferences, and private-capital providers over the last few years, although until this week nothing came to fruition, in part because of sensitivities around putting private-equity money into schools, which are supposed to have an educational mission. 

The Big Ten’s private-investment proposal, which would have seen UC Investments—the University of California system’s pension fund—purchase an equity stake in the conference, fell apart last month because not all member schools were in agreement; Michigan and USC officials spoke out against it.

One private-equity executive told FOS this week that part of the reason the Big Ten deal unraveled was that “certain stakeholders” were “not given a heads up,” and when they found out an agreement was close, they pushed back.

“Any time I go to do a deal, whether it’s in sports, garbage collection, whatever—there’s the question of who needs to opine in order to get the deal done,” the source said. “We all want to get deals done, but you have to be aware of downstream ramifications.”

RedBird declined to comment, and representatives for the Big 12 and Weatherford did not immediately respond to requests for comment.