Penn State, UCLA taking first eight-figure private capital deals with Elevate

Elevate announced Monday morning a $500 million private capital fund to help college sports’ athletic departments navigate the revenue-sharing era. Dubbed the College Investment Initiative, Penn State and UCLA are the first two clients, signing eight-figure private capital deals with Elevate, sources confirmed to On3. Elevate touted two signings when it announced the multi-million dollar capital fund on Monday.

It’s only the starting point for the investment fund. Elevate’s other university clients include Alabama, Notre Dame and Florida. Penn State and UCLA are making college sports history by being the first two athletic departments to take on private capital. Sportico first reported the news on Monday afternoon.

In a statement to On3 on Monday, Elevate said it isn’t “announcing any clients associated with this investment initiative, those two schools are Elevate ticket operations clients.” UCLA stated in an email to On3 that it is exploring expanding its partnership with Elevate, and is not part of the College Investment Initiative.

“Elevate serves as our partner in ticketing strategy and operations,” Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft said in a statement. “To clarify, our relationship is strictly limited to these services, and we have no affiliation or involvement with any private equity firm or fund.”

Elevate, a global sports and marketing agency, has partnered with private equity firm Velocity Capital Management and Texas Permanent School Fund Corporation to provide schools with money and resources to develop revenue-generating projects. The College Investment Initiative provides a new funding source for athletics programs pursuing projects, such as facility upgrades and renovations.

It’s an unprecedented moment in college sports. Private equity has circled in on college sports in recent years. Weatherford Capital and RedBird Capital Partners combined their powers (and billions in cash) last spring to create Collegiate Athletics Solutions.

“It’s upfront capital, as we do have a multi-year agreement for Elevate services and from a payback perspective as well, on that capital investment,” Elevate’s chief business officer for college, Jonathan Marks, told On3 in an interview on Monday. “We believe that the $500 million is just a starting point. With the discussions that we’ve had before the announcement, to what we’re having now, we firmly believe we’re going to be able to increase that significantly, and expect to have another three to five or six deals done by football season. We expect that number to continue to grow from there.”

The news comes on the heels of the House v. NCAA settlement, which was approved on Friday. Since the NCAA was founded in 1906, institutions have never directly paid athletes. That will now change with the settlement ushering in the revenue-sharing era of college sports.

Beginning July 1, schools will be able to share $20.5 million with athletes, with football expected to receive 75%, followed by men’s basketball (15%), women’s basketball (5%) and the remainder of sports (5%). The amount shared in revenue will increase annually.

Marks told the Sports Business Journal on Monday that Elevate is considering conference-level funding opportunities through league-controlled assets, such as jersey patches, field logos and tickets. The company has relationships with the ACC and Big East.

Velocity, the sports-focused private equity firm launched by David Abrams and Arne Rees in 2021, is an existing investor in Elevate. The Texas Permanent School Fund is Velocity’s majority backer, having committed $200M late in 2024, and holds an ownership stake in the firm.