The Big 12 Conference has never been more profitable on the whole.
Conference commissioner Brett Yormark told Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger Friday that the Big 12 will distribute $470 million in revenue among conference members this year, a new record for the conference, topping the record $440 million from the previous year.
“I’ve said from Day 1, we are open for business,” Yormark told Dellenger. “I guess you could say that we are open for business more than ever.”
Yormark did note that there will be “some dilution” of member distribution, though, because of the four-team expansion that brought BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF into the league.
Furthermore, as explained by Big 12 board chair and Baylor President Linda Livingstone, uncertainty due to Title IX’s impact in the revenue-share model is going to only further complicate distribution of the record revenue to individual schools.
Currently, 90% of revenues may go to male athletes.
“There’s still a lot of uncertainty on how we are going to distribute that (rev-share) money and … some of the expectations around Title IX that are not really clear,” Livingston told Dellenger and Yahoo Sports.
Yormark added that conference expansion is not on his to-do list at present, despite the quip about being more open for business than ever. Especially not with Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah set to join the league this summer, plus the league showing monetary growth.
Private equity invading collegiate sports?
Yormark also touched on the idea of private equity — multiple conference leaders have been public recently about the need to increase revenues across college sports given a recent NCAA settlement — and unlike some of his counterparts, including SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, Yormark has an open mind toward it.
“Private equity has been out there in the news and people are thinking about it,” Yormark said.
At SEC meetings earlier this week Sankey cautioned about having private equity firms become a part of college sports, saying “In my experience, those involved in private equity want to be paid back, so I would caution people around the notion of short-term fixes.”
Yormark has a much more optimistic view on the subject.
“In some respects, private equity is a validation of where this industry is going and the growth,” he said. “I don’t look at it as a bad thing.”
Yormark’s opinion isn’t surprising given his background and he isn’t alone in his belief.
Drew Weatherford, a former FSU quarterback turned face of Weatherford Capital and RedBird Capital Partners, firms that have combined to create Collegiate Athletics Solutions, believes private equity is the only way forward for college athletics, with revenue sharing with athletes on the horizon.
“I had a hunch this revenue sharing thing was real. It is going to be another big blow to athletic departments,” Weatherford told Yahoo Sports.
Weatherford went on to say, “I deeply personally believe in college athletics. As an ex-athlete, I owe a lot to it and so does my family. We believe in college athletics. I don’t like the fact that 10 to 15 teams have a chance to win a national title every year. I’d like that to be 40-50. It’s not a level playing field. Not everyone has the resources to compete.” Weatherford contends that would change with the introduction of private equity.
Even with record revenue, the Big 12 isn’t on the level of the Big Ten and the SEC currently. But under Yormark the league has shown a predilection for innovation and aggressive thinking. Perhaps private equity is next.