Why Big 12 Schools Are Saying No to the RedBird Money
Private equity firms has been circling college sports for a while now. We are seeing them pop up tied to either individual schools or conferences. Last week, the Big 12 became the first major college conference to actually shake hands on a conference-wide PE deal. But within days, the majority of its own members turned down the most headline-grabbing part of it. So why are the Big 12 schools saying no to the Redbird money?
Embed from Getty ImagesWhat the Deal Actually Involves
On 29th April 2026, the Big 12’s board (all 16 university presidents and chancellors) voted to approve a five-year business partnership with RedBird Capital Partners and Weatherford Capital. It has three components:
1) RedBird will work with the conference on commercial development to source additional revenue streams.
2) The conference itself will receive a $12.5 million capital infusion.
3) Each individual school is offered access to an optional credit line of up to $30 million. The reported interest rate for such a loan would be c10%. If every school took the money, RedBird and Weatherford would be putting in as much as $500 million across the conference. The offer stands for a year.
The strategic logic for the Big 12 to work with Redbird is reasonably straightforward. RedBird has a stake in Paramount, which owns CBS and recently took control of the company that owns TNT, two of the networks that already hold broadcast rights to Big 12 games. With the conference’s current ESPN and Fox deal expiring in 2031, having those connections equates to optionality and optionality matters in this market.
In addition, I do see the logic in the conferences working with outside partners on commercial ideas. This is not where the expertise of the conference or the individual schools lies. The idea behind the $12.5m capital infusion is to allow the Big 12 to explore opportunities in this arena, by investing in partnerships and joint ventures.
So far, so good.
The Bit That Isn’t Working to Date
Where the deal seems to have wobbled so far is the individual school credit line and that’s the bit dominating the headlines. At the time of writing at least twelve Big 12 schools have declined the offer. Texas Tech, Iowa State, Colorado, Kansas State, Arizona, West Virginia, UCF, Cincinnati, Baylor, Houston, TCU and BYU have all said no.
Read those statements from the schools and a pattern emerges. Colorado said it “supports the Big 12’s agreement” but is “not opting in.” Iowa State said it is “appreciative of the Big 12’s efforts” but won’t use the credit line. West Virginia said its decision not to participate was made jointly by the Athletic Director, President, and Board of Governors. Supportive of the conference deal, not interested in the money. That is a very consistent message.
The Cost of Doing Business with PE
The reason isn’t complicated. Schools in genuine need of cash would have far better and cheaper options elsewhere. Most Big 12 schools see a route where they can get a better deal elsewhere, or university leaders are already in alignment to fund athletics as needed. Taking on a loan at 10% interest from a PE firm when your own university can fund you internally is a hard sell to a board of governors. It is the kind of decision that would end careers, which are quite short at the best of times.
To be fair, the financial pressure these schools are under is real. The House settlement means colleges can now directly pay athletes a share of up to $20.5m revenue from media, tickets, and sponsorships, on top of scholarships, coach salaries, and facility costs. Colorado athletics, for example, needed $43.5 million in university support funding and student fees to help cover nearly $162 million in operating expenses in fiscal year 2025. These schools are squeezed. But that does not mean a high-interest Private Capital loans are the answer.
Embed from Getty ImagesRedBird Is Playing the Long Game
But RedBird is not panicking. Their spokesperson said the window to opt into the loans stays open for one year and framed the credit line as “a long-term feature of a broader agreement” rather than a one-time offer. That framing suggests they always expected the uptake to be slow, and that the real value of this deal (for RedBird and for the Big 12) is the strategic partnership rather than the loans themselves.
If schools largely avoid the credit line, the agreement reduces to two things: $12.5 million for the conference to deploy for revenue-generating purposes, and the strategic commercial partnership with a firm that has significant influence in the media landscape. That is still worth having, even if the $500 million headline figure quietly disappears.
More to Come
This is the first conference-level PE/fund deal in major college sports, but it won’t be the last attempt. The Big Ten nearly reached a deal with UC Investments, the University of California pension fund, only for it to fall apart when multiple schools objected. UC Investments wasn’t even a PE firm. There is clearly still skepticism about letting external parties into college football, PE or otherwise.
The financial pressure isn’t going away, though. It will be interesting to see if any Big 12 school relents over the next twelve months and says yes to the $30 million, and we’ll find out what that really looks like in practice.
There is merit in outside institutions, private equity or otherwise, providing support to college athletics. For me that is best centred around marketing efforts and projects to improve revenue generation. I don’t think at this stage, funding in the sense discussed here, is the best answer for college sports.
Accepting such funding will cede an element of control or add a further opinion to how things should be run. There are already too many voices shouting about the future of college sports without another one being added. Schools do need to find a way to balance the books but perhaps that is best solved from traditional sources. I will be thinking about this more over the coming weeks.
