Big 12 in talks with organizations to sell naming rights, ownership stake, according to reports

[Connor_Ferguson]

The Big 12 Conference is in talks with multiple organizations about selling its naming rights and a 20% ownership stake in the league, according to reports from industry members.

Big 12 in talks with Allstate, others on deals to sell naming rights, ownership stake

The Big 12 Conference has been in discussions over the past six months, exploring potentially selling its naming rights to a title sponsor and Allstate has emerged as a potential candidate according to reports that surfaced today from ESPN's Pete Thamel and the Action Network's Brett McMurphy. Th

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[Nor'MidWester]

Better be the "INSERT COMPANY HERE Big 12". It would be dumb to lose the brand recognition by naming it the "Allstate 12" or whatever.
But this seems less intrusive than private equity... It's stupid but not the worst thing I've seen today...

 

[isucy86]

All that money sounds like a recipe for crazy spending by Athletic Departments.

If Presidents are considering, they should implement sport specific cost caps and make Athletics a profit center that funds academic programs!

 

[cyputz]

Will ESPN / Amazon pull into this foray?

 

[CycloneVet]

Whatever it takes to even the playing field. If Baylor or Kansas State has to fall into a sinkhole that would work too

 

[alarson]

Whatever it takes to even the playing field. If Baylor or Kansas State has to fall into a sinkhole that would work too

It won't.

If it works for the big 12 the B10\SEC will take similar deals at larger valuations and the gap will get wider.

 

[Clonehomer]

It won't.

If it works for the big 12 the B10\SEC will take similar deals at larger valuations and the gap will get wider.

There’s no way either of those would consider a conference name change. Too much history in the name.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

It won't.

If it works for the big 12 the B10\SEC will take similar deals at larger valuations and the gap will get wider.

That is true but it would allow the Big 12 to pay their full $22 mil to players.

 

[MeowingCows]

Will ESPN / Amazon pull into this foray?

Amazon or other major corps, maybe. I'm not sure how ESPN could really do it since they're tied up with multiple different conferences/contracts for media rights already. Maybe that wouldn't pose a conflict? Feels like it would be in some way.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

Amazon or other major corps, maybe. I'm not sure how ESPN could really do it since they're tied up with multiple different conferences/contracts for media rights already. Maybe that wouldn't pose a conflict? Feels like it would be in some way.

Sounds like anti trust lawsuits to me.

 

[WooBadger18]

It won't.

If it works for the big 12 the B10\SEC will take similar deals at larger valuations and the gap will get wider.

And even if they don’t, the big 10 and sec receive more money each year and the big 12 will be making less money each year (paying back the PE firm). How long until the big 10 and sec just make up the difference anyway? Isn’t it something like 2-3 years?

 

[flander1649]

ESPN unofficially already is the title sponsor for the SEC.

 

[SolterraCyclone]

It won't.

If it works for the big 12 the B10\SEC will take similar deals at larger valuations and the gap will get wider.

Normally I would agree, but in this case I’m not so sure. The Big 10 and SEC branding is so strong, I don’t see them wanting to give that up lightly. It probably depends on how big the deal is for.

This could be a nice differentiator for the Big 12, in that brand has taken a big hit since 2010, and there isn’t much history left with the 8 new additions spanning the nation. If it is a substantial sum, we could be the Arby’s 12 for all I care

 

[alarson]

There’s no way either of those would consider a conference name change. Too much history in the name.

They've abandoned history every step along the way in search of more money. Lets not act like that'd stop here.

 

[keepngoal]

2 to 3 million more to each school.

 

[snowcraig2.0]

The KY Jelly 12. Has a nice ring to it.....

 

[ISUcyclones11]

I like college athletics less and less every year

 

[clone52]

Better be the "INSERT COMPANY HERE Big 12". It would be dumb to lose the brand recognition by naming it the "Allstate 12" or whatever.
But this seems less intrusive than private equity... It's stupid but not the worst thing I've seen today...

Is there really brand recognition for Big 12, though? The conference is changing so much. I wouldn't care if it was the AllState 12 for a few years, then the Texaco 12, then something else.

I don't think NASCAR has had a lot of issues going from Winston Cup to Nextel Cup to Sprin tCup to Monster Energy NASCAR cup to NASCAR cup.

That said, I'd prefer INSERT COMPANY HERE Big 12, but I don't think its a big deal either way.

I'm curious about the private equity. What does a 20% share actually mean? Does that mean that firm gets 20% of all revenue? They just distributed $470M to schools this year. 20% of that would be $94M. If an equity firm paid $1B, it'd take them 11 years to profit on it, right?

If a team lost 20% of their payout this year, that'd be about $7M. However if they got a 1/16 of the $1B, that's a $62.5M influx of cash. Would getting $62.5M up front be worth losing 20% going forward long term? I don't know, but I'd imagine there are numbers where it would be worth it.

 

[1UNI2ISU]

There’s no way either of those would consider a conference name change. Too much history in the name.

I'm not so sure.

The Big Ten presented by Northwestern Mutual or the SEC presented by Capital One isn't terribly obtrusive

 

[MushroomPinball]

How about the ****'s Sporting Goods Big 12 or Big ****'s 12 for short?