The Big Money Takeover Is Wrecking College Sports. It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way
College sports are being re-engineered in real time — not by coaches, campus leaders or even Congress, but by hedge funds. The Big Ten is advancing a multibillion-dollar private-capital deal that would spin up a new commercial arm, extend control of media rights through 2046, give investors a say in a new entity, and tier distributions toward the biggest brands. That’s not a tweak; it’s a restructuring of who controls college sports’ core assets.
Public officials are flashing warning lights. My colleague and fellow Washington state lawmaker Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell warned in a letter to Big Ten presidents that selling stakes in university athletics to private equity may conflict with academic missions, jeopardize tax-exempt purposes and is advancing without full trustee briefings at some schools. Families and taxpayers deserve transparency before public assets are auctioned off to the highest bidder.
Meanwhile, campus leaders say the financial framework governing college sports is harmful. Their top concern is House v. NCAA, a settlement to an antitrust lawsuit brought by college athletes against the NCAA for the power conferences’ anti-competitive behavior. It lets schools pay athletes under a salary cap that only the richest schools can afford, while the NCAA and the rest of Division I schools pay $2.8 billion in back damages. An overwhelming 76% of leaders—including nearly nine in 10 college presidents — say the settlement will harm athletics.
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The financial disparities don’t stop there. Every week there seems to be a new scandal. Take the Big Ten: Penn State just fired its coach with a buyout of more than $49 million — an amount that rivals or exceeds the entire annual athletics budget at hundreds of Division I universities outside the top tier. USA Today’s public-school finance database shows only a few dozen programs above $50 million.
There’s more money than ever — but fewer opportunities as