[82lsju]

The #1 priority for the Athletic Department, which has been emphasized in all of the AD-related calls I have attended recently, is revenue-generation. Given his background at Bain, I wonder if Donohoe will be looking at unconventional revenue sources like PE firms. Could Stanford be the first school to offer an interest in its Athletics department in exchange for cash investment (which is not to say that it would be an attractive investment)? I think college athletics is headed that way. I am sure that firms are already building value models and pitch decks for college athletics investment.

As Maple Leaf said, can this guy solve problems? Right now, Stanford has a revenue problem. If that does not get fixed soon, Stanford will have a big cost problem.

The Big Ten Conference is taking preliminary bids from private equity firms despite past comments from commissioner Tony Petitti questioning the upside of involving institutional capital in college sports.


According to multiple people familiar with the situation, the conference previously retained investment bank Evercore, which solicited a first round of indicative offers from PE firms this week, just before a key deadline in the House v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit that could fundamentally change the economics of intercollegiate athletics.

“To better support its 18 member institutions, the conference is evaluating potential strategic partnerships in order to enhance the conference’s event, sponsorship and other ancillary business endeavors,” a Big Ten spokesperson told Sportico in an email, while declining to provide additional details. A representative from Evercore did not respond to a request for comment.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joemoglia/2...-football/

College football program valuations: Ranking every Power 4 team by how much they’d sell for:

60. Stanford: $202 million
Average football revenue: $40.3 million

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6500596...ings-2025/

and from 2018

In late 2018, the sitting Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott presented his bosses with a wild idea. He wanted to go “Shark Tank” and sell an equity stake in the Pac-12 Conference.


The conference members needed a cash infusion. Their media rights agreement was outdated and delivered each Pac-12 member $10 million-a-year less than their peers in the SEC and Big Ten.

The “Pac-12 NewCo” plan was introduced by Scott to the conference presidents and chancellors at their mid-November meeting and was subsequently discussed in a conference call in December of 2018.

Nine months later, Scott went public and said the conference was unable to find a suitable solution. He said of the presidents and chancellors: “They don’t want to do something with a private equity or financial firm.”

Turns out, there was a deal on the table. Just not one that the presidents and chancellors could agree they should take.
The Pac-12 was offered $1 billion for 15 percent equity in the conference by a private-equity firm, per sources involved in the process. The biggest pushback to making the deal came from two particular camps — USC and UCLA.

https://www.johncanzano.com/p/canzano-pa...n-1b-offer

[82lsju]

The #1 priority for the Athletic Department, which has been emphasized in all of the AD-related calls I have attended recently, is revenue-generation. Given his background at Bain, I wonder if Donohoe will be looking at unconventional revenue sources like PE firms. Could Stanford be the first school to offer an interest in its Athletics department in exchange for cash investment (which is not to say that it would be an attractive investment)? I think college athletics is headed that way. I am sure that firms are already building value models and pitch decks for college athletics investment.

As Maple Leaf said, can this guy solve problems? Right now, Stanford has a revenue problem. If that does not get fixed soon, Stanford will have a big cost problem.

The Big Ten Conference is taking preliminary bids from private equity firms despite past comments from commissioner Tony Petitti questioning the upside of involving institutional capital in college sports.


According to multiple people familiar with the situation, the conference previously retained investment bank Evercore, which solicited a first round of indicative offers from PE firms this week, just before a key deadline in the House v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit that could fundamentally change the economics of intercollegiate athletics.

“To better support its 18 member institutions, the conference is evaluating potential strategic partnerships in order to enhance the conference’s event, sponsorship and other ancillary business endeavors,” a Big Ten spokesperson told Sportico in an email, while declining to provide additional details. A representative from Evercore did not respond to a request for comment.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joemoglia/2...-football/

College football program valuations: Ranking every Power 4 team by how much they’d sell for:

60. Stanford: $202 million
Average football revenue: $40.3 million

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6500596...ings-2025/

and from 2018

In late 2018, the sitting Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott presented his bosses with a wild idea. He wanted to go “Shark Tank” and sell an equity stake in the Pac-12 Conference.


The conference members needed a cash infusion. Their media rights agreement was outdated and delivered each Pac-12 member $10 million-a-year less than their peers in the SEC and Big Ten.

The “Pac-12 NewCo” plan was introduced by Scott to the conference presidents and chancellors at their mid-November meeting and was subsequently discussed in a conference call in December of 2018.

Nine months later, Scott went public and said the conference was unable to find a suitable solution. He said of the presidents and chancellors: “They don’t want to do something with a private equity or financial firm.”

Turns out, there was a deal on the table. Just not one that the presidents and chancellors could agree they should take.
The Pac-12 was offered $1 billion for 15 percent equity in the conference by a private-equity firm, per sources involved in the process. The biggest pushback to making the deal came from two particular camps — USC and UCLA.

https://www.johncanzano.com/p/canzano-pa...n-1b-offer