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The Minutemen Command has a video of UMass OC Mike Bajakian being interviewed by reporters.
There is also a video of UMass WR Ty Harding being interviewed. Harding's UMass bio.
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The impact of NIL and other cost structures is increasing.
St. Francis, who was just in the NCAA basketball tournament announced they are dropping to Division III.
If you missed it, Richmond football, (who won the 2006 FCS National Championship) is moving from the CAA to the Patriot League.
AIC hockey (who has been the little engine that could lately) is dropping to Division II.
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I was watching CNBC recently and they were interviewing a "Sports Investor" who was saying schools will be selling their football programs. Investor Marc Lasry said the schools "Will have to sell an interest in the teams" . Have to. The cost structure of NIL and the fact donations to the athletic departments are no longer tax deductible make it inevitable.
See this article from Debevoise & Plimpton.
From the article:
"CVC Capital has been rumored to be in discussions with the Big 12 athletic conference (which lost Texas and Oklahoma recently to the SEC), whereby CVC Capital would invest a range of $800 million to $1 billion in exchange for a 15−20% equity stake in the conference. In parallel, the Big 12 pursued a naming rights agreement to rename the conference in exchange for additional revenue that would be shared among its members. These cash infusions were said to be on the table in order to stabilize the conference’s finances before its next media rights deal in 2031.
Sixth Street Partners was also rumored to have been in discussions with Florida State University (“FSU”) in relation to staking a new company that would acquire FSU’s intellectual property rights. The negotiations came at a time when FSU has filed a lawsuit against its conference, the ACC, to avoid the steep exit fee that it would owe the ACC for leaving the conference."
Lasry said a possible valuation of "12 times earnings" could be the purchase price.
From the AI "Grok": For fiscal year 2024, Ohio State’s athletic department reported total operating revenue of $254,933,664, with the football program generating $111,646,810 of that amount."
Twelve times football earnings would give Ohio State about $1.2 billion for their athletic dept fund.
Even more interesting would be if instead of "private equity" buying college football, if Tech companies, who are awash in capital, got involved.
Nike already "owns" Oregon. If NVIDA buys Texas and Microsoft buys Alabama and Apple buys Ohio State, we could see those teams in the FBS final four every year...
Life is going to be tough for the non-super teams.
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