Big 12 schools like Utah and BYU could soon get a slice of a new $500 million deal

The Big 12 is negotiating a business partnership that would inject capital funds into the conference office and allow member schools to opt in to additional funding of roughly $30 million per school, league sources confirmed to The Athletic.

In response to a request for comment from The Athletic, the Big 12 Conference confirmed it is actively “in negotiations to create a multifaceted strategic business partnership with RedBird and Weatherford Capital.” The deal is not yet finalized and would not include any stake or equity in the Big 12. A league source described the partnership as an “opt-in capital solution” and emphasized that it is not a private equity agreement.

Yahoo! Sports first reported details of the deal.

The partnership would focus on expanding commercial and business operations at the league-office level while offering the conference’s 16 universities roughly $30 million each in the form of a capital line of credit. This would allow “member institutions to take advantage of up to $500 million of capital,” according to the conference. Schools are not required to opt in.

The Big 12 previously explored league-wide private equity and private capital deals, but didn’t garner enough unified support among members. Commissioner Brett Yormark told Front Office Sports in May 2025: “We’re just not ready to jump in just yet.” This partnership would offer an alternative approach and could help Big 12 athletic departments, under growing budgetary and financial strain, including up to $20.5 million in direct revenue sharing in the first year of the House settlement.

The Big 12’s annual revenue distributions to league members lag behind those in the other power conferences, particularly the Big Ten and SEC, due to the disparity in television rights revenues. 2025-26 is the first year of a media rights extension through 2030-31 between the Big 12 and TV partners ESPN and Fox. That deal was struck in 2022, before the league increased to 16 schools. All 16 will receive full-member shares for the first time in the 2025-26 academic year.

Private equity has become a popular yet polarizing topic in college sports, with numerous conferences and schools exploring different forms of outside funding while reckoning with how much equity and decision-making to relinquish in return. The Big Ten recently jumped ahead on a deal with UC Investments that offered $2.4 billion in capital to be split among Big Ten members in exchange for a 10 percent stake in the league’s media and sponsorship rights holder. That deal is on pause due to public opposition from Michigan and USC.

Utah, a Big 12 member, approved a first-of-its-kind private equity partnership this week with investment firm Otro Capital. It creates a for-profit business to fund Utes athletics and increase revenue, with Otro taking an ownership stake in what Utah administrators described as a nine-figure venture. The Big 12’s potential partnership with RedBird and Weatherford Capital would not impact Utah’s deal.

RedBird is an investment management firm that is heavily involved in sports, including international soccer and Formula One racing, and has over $10 billion in assets. The company is also one half of a joint venture with Abu Dhabi-based International Media Investments, providing financial backing to the Players Era Festival, an in-season college basketball tournament in Las Vegas that pays name, image and likeness dollars to participating teams, and just completed its second year.

Weatherford Capital is an investment firm with connections to Dallas and Tampa, Fla., that topped $1 billion in assets in 2023. Its leadership includes former Florida State quarterback Drew Weatherford, who’s now a member of FSU’s board of trustees. Another partner, his brother Will, is the chairman of South Florida’s board of trustees. He has been instrumental in the Bulls’ all-in approach to athletics, headlined by the nine-figure on-campus football stadium set to open in 2027. The Weatherford portfolio includes IMG Academy, the prep school powerhouse and training facility.

The Big 12 also stated that RedBird will work with the conference to “identify complementary investment opportunities inside and outside” of college sports in an effort to create new revenue streams for the league and its members.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.