Report: Big Ten courting private equity bids despite past comments from commissioner Tony Petitti

The Big Ten is accepting preliminary bids from private equity firms that are interested in investing in the league, according to a report from Sportico.

Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti said in the past that he was against private equity bids, but he has apparently reversed course. He addressed the possibility back in October.

“I have yet to see a single thing in any plan that I’ve learned details about that contains things that we couldn’t do ourselves and our A4 colleagues as well,” Petitti said. “… The notion that college football is broken is not right. … It’s not broken.”

However, according to Sportico, investment bank Evercore, which has previously worked with the Big Ten, accepted a “first round of indicative offers from PE firms this week.”

The Big Ten confirmed to Sportico that it is looking into ways to raise more money ahead of the  impending House v. NCAA settlement.

“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.

The site also reached out to Evercore for comment but did not hear back.

The Big Ten isn’t the first conference to look into private equity as a way to bring in more money. Last summer, the Big 12 was considering a private equity investment with a cash infusion of $800 million to $1 billion from Luxembourg-based CVC Capital Partners in exchange for a 15-20% stake in the league, per CBS Sports.

That cash infusion would have gone in part directly to conference members to help with ballooning costs, while the partnership would also give the league access to CVC investment services and clients.

The news about the Big 12 wasn’t particularly surprising because the league is well behind both the Big Ten and SEC in terms of revenue. The Big 12 and ACC have both expressed a need to be creative to try to bring in more money to their conferences.

However, the Big Ten earned $880 million for the fiscal year 2023, per Sportico, the most of any league. Still, the conference is reportedly interested in turning to private equity firms to bring in even more money.

If the Big Ten does indeed turn to private equity, it would mark a huge milestone and it would be interesting to see if other conferences follow suit not far behind.