Report: 'Project Rudy' super league concept emerges ahead of SEC, Big Ten meeting

A super league concept being called “Project Rudy” has emerged ahead of athletic directors from the SEC and Big Ten meeting to discuss the future of the sport, per a report by Ross Dellenger.

Project Rudy is superheaded by former Disney executives-turned-investment professionals. It’s what might be called a super league and it would have a 70-team structure, incorporating football programs from the four power conferences. In doing so, the model would preserve those four conferences, expand the postseason, overhaul scheduling, add tiers in revenue distribution, and infuse $9 billion in private capital into the system.

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Smash Capital, a venture capital and private equity firm based in Los Angeles and New York, employs the architects for Project Rudy. The architects of the plan are Evan Richter, Kevin Mayer, and Tom Staggs However, representatives from Smash Capital have declined comment on the idea.

“His [Richter] claim is that everybody will be saved,” said one power conference athletic director.

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This comes shortly before the SEC and Big Ten are set to have a historic meeting. Already, athletic directors and leadership from the two conferences were reportedly set to discuss a new enforcement arm that wouldn’t be the NCAA, the College Football Playoff format, and a scheduling arrangement for football.

Over the last four months, more than 25 athletic directors from the power conferences were given a presentation on Project Rudy. Conference commissioners from the SEC, Big 12, and ACC had details from the model shared with them directly by the architects of the model. On top of that, former Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick recently joined the team for Project Rudy.

“Of all the ideas I’ve seen, this one makes the most sense,” said Miami athletic director Dan Radakovich, who has seen the presentation. “Conferences are kept intact, commissioners still have an important and valuable role, and there is the ability for schools to make increased money from bigger matchups and more playoff games.”

Project Rudy would make extensive changes. That includes eliminating games between power conference programs and Group of Five and FCS opponents. It would also consolidate media rights between the power conferences instead of having different agreements. Growth is expected to come from having 1.5 more “marquee” games per season. With that, Smash Capital says school-by-school distributions would skyrocket.

“The Smash proposal appeals to people because it helps with an immediate issue,” said one high-ranking Big Ten school administrator, “but private equity usually wants a high rate of return and a high level of control.”

This comes at what has been described as a “transformational” time for college athletics. It is also a time of economic uncertainty in college athletics, as the House Settlement progresses through the court system. Recently, a judge approved of the settlement in a preliminary ruling. That includes $21-22 million in annual revenue sharing with athletes.

Those economic concerns and changes have led programs to search for new revenue streams and there has been talk about private equity for some time. Still, it’s very important to convince SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti that this is a good model if Project Rudy wants to gain more momentum.

“The Smash Capital idea is brilliant,” says one high-level SEC school administrator, “but you’ve got to convince those two guys.”

With the news of Project Rudy, the discussions between the SEC and Big Ten have become even more vital to college athletics moving forward.