Jan 21, 2026
Our hosts explain the main factors schools should be considering when deciding if a private capital investment makes sense for their athletic department, and if so how they should prepare for it.
For schools that decide to steer clear of such deals, they will still need to prepare for how massive influxes of cash will change their conference and college athletics as a whole.
Private equity or private capital firms are looking for reliable, and predictable revenue streams such as media rights, sponsorships, especially at schools with big brands which have been under commercialized.
Areas for fast and sustainable ROI include:
- Increasing headcount for revenue generation staff (sales and fundraising)
- Modernizing ticketing and CRM technology
- Changing incentive structures within the athletic department
Larger projects like mixed-use real estate development take more time and capital to institute, but have the potential for massive gains of their own.
In preparing for this episode, AJ and Charles spoke with private capital firms as well as conferences and athletic departments to uncover which themes and topics are top-of-mind at the moment.
Timestamps:
- 0:55 - What type of athletic department is attractive to investors?
- 3:15 - What does it mean to be PE-ready?
- 10:00 - Does winning solve all problems?
- 12:45 - Hypothetical: Where would you deploy capital?
- 18:00 - Why college has lagged behind pro sports
- 19:25 - FOMO for the schools that don’t get on board
- 23:45 - Changing your financial trajectory in a single season
- 27:05 - Commons mistakes for athletic departments
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