RedBird Capital and Weatherford Capital are launching an investment fund focused on college sports that could lend up to $2 billion to athletic departments across the country.
College Athletic Solutions (CAS), led by Redbird founder Jerry Cardinal, says athletes are looking to get more generous compensation while schools seek new sources of funding to stay competitive. The university hopes to profit from the turbulent college sports industry. CAS's structure is to lend upfront money and operational expertise to the athletic department in exchange for a portion of the additional revenue generated under the partnership, according to people familiar with the plan.
Headquartered in Tampa, Florida, Weatherford Capital is run by brothers Will, Sam and Drew Weatherford, who played football at Florida State University and is a member of the school's Board of Trustees. There is also. FSU has been in talks with another investment firm, private equity giant Sixth Street, for more than a year about a potential injection of capital into Seminole. A spokesperson for Weatherford said FSU is aware of his work with CAS and that he will not be involved in decisions involving private capital or the Seminole athletics organization. A university spokesperson did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Meanwhile, CAS is raising money and is already in talks with a number of other universities, said the people, who requested anonymity because the details are private. The new venture will initially partner with five to 10 athletic departments and provide each with between $50 million and $200 million.
Representatives for Redbird Capital and Weatherford Capital declined to comment.
CAS is one of several institutional investors seeking to fund and profit from the increased commercialization of college sports. In an introductory email to Texas Tech Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt late last year, Cardinale wrote that a combination of legal, financial and legislative turmoil had led to “a 30-year career in sports… “It has created one of the most transformative opportunities I have ever witnessed.”
“We have worked hard to position ourselves as a thoughtful and influential partner for you and your team in assessing the changing landscape,” he later said in an email. Stated. sportico Obtained via an open records request: “Leveraging both (a) our combined experience building cutting edge sports businesses (e.g. On Location, OneTeam Partners, Legend Hospitality) to generate more revenue for our client divisions and (b) our expertise in team and league partnerships/operations (e.g. AC Milan, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, XFL, etc.), we should be a fairly unique partner for a program like yours.”
For months, both Mr. Weatherford and Mr. Cardinale have communicated, at least vaguely, the premise behind their new venture. Last August, Weatherford posted a column on LinkedIn titled “Amateur college sports are dead… act accordingly,” in which he suggested that college sports should not “rest on their laurels of tradition.” Instead, stakeholders in the college sports industry should “celebrate” what it has become into a “multibillion-dollar national treasure” and “commodify the asset” for their own benefit.
Cardinale said in early January. new york times He claimed the Michigan football team could be worth $1.5 billion, implying the Wolverines were an undervalued asset. The previous week, on Jan. 2, a Delaware LLC called Collegiate Athletic Solutions Platform was formed, according to the state Department of Corporations database. The CAS website is currently password protected with a “Coming Soon” landing page.
The company has one employee listed on LinkedIn. Newman Delaney is the son of former Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney and is listed as senior vice president. Jim Delaney is currently an advisor to the Big Ten and a partner at the Montag Group. The Delaney family is also a major donor to the University of North Carolina, Jim and Newman's alma mater.
In a March email to Texas Tech's Hocutt, Newman Delaney requested a range of financial information to allow CAS to produce “a specific, TTU-specific analysis as a basis for constructive discussion.”
The data included three years of profit and loss statements from the athletic department. Itemized profit and loss forecast for 3 to 5 years. Details about future returns promised for existing projects or debt. Detailed breakdown of debt. Financial schedule for upcoming capital expenditures, including his ROI estimates for these projects.
In response, Hocutt emailed Jonathan Botros, the Red Raiders' CFO and COO, and asked if he had any concerns about sharing this type of public information. A Texas Tech University spokesperson did not respond to inquiries regarding the current status of these discussions.
CAS's approach differs from traditional private equity and private credit. The group does not intend to take a stake in the commercial operations of the sports sector, nor does it intend to secure fixed payments in exchange for upfront funding. Instead, the deal will be structured with benefits tied to new revenue generation, the people said.
RedBird's sports portfolio includes Italian soccer team AC Milan, Fenway Sports Group, YES Network, Alpine F1 Team and UFL. The firm manages $10 billion and recently closed its fourth fund on more than $3.28 billion, according to the report. wall street journal.
Founded in 2015, Weatherford Capital has raised more than $1 billion since its inception. The group, whose portfolio is largely comprised of technology and financial companies, also invested in IMG Academy when it was sold to Endeavor for $1.25 billion in 2023.
