Re: FSU's Private Equity Possibilities

FSU's Private Equity Possibilities

I'm wondering if the private equity idea for selling marketing/advertising rights to a private equity firm could be applied to the ACC as a whole.

The idea would require a huge capital investment made up of a consortium of investment companies, but it would certainly solve the major problem of Grant of Rights for the conference as a whole.

If all schools agreed to the idea, we could allow the investment group to own marketing/advertising rights to the conference for a fee to be determined - which would cause the Grant of Rights to collapse. The fee would have to be paid on an annual basis and would need to be bail out money (to ESPN) and a competitive income in comparison to what ESPN is paying the SEC or ABC is paying the B1G.

I haven't tried to do a financial analysis on the feasibility of this, but it is intersting to me.

One thing's for certain - a consortium of financial companies could certainly manage the advertising and marketing of the ACC better than the current group of idiots.

Re: FSU's Private Equity Possibilities

bretfsu®

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I know nothing about high stakes financial dealings.

Feb 8, 2024, 9:50 AM

I don't have an entrepreneurial bone in my body. So, I'll just list two ways I have heard/read that FSU is considering doing in order to raise money through their master plan called Project Osceola.

Build a new state-of-the-art baseball facility. Get a minor league team to play in that stadium.

Sell naming rights to Doak Campbell Stadium (the way cities and private owners do with their stadiums). You could be playing FSU on Bobby Bowden Field in Dr. Pepper Stadium in a few years.

These could be ways the private equity fund could be repaid for their investment in FSU athletics.

Obviously, with the direction college sports is heading, football (and hoops) programs are going to look more and more like the NFL and NBA than they looked like when we were all kids and thought a souvenir program from a "real college football game" was the bee's knees. Anybody remember when selling programs at games was a major way the school raised funds?

I don't know how this is all gonna end up. At my age I may be dead by the time the dust settles. But, it looks like FSU is getting out ahead of the process and trying to be proactive rather than reactive. Like I said, high finance ain't my thing. But, the BOT at FSU are not a bunch of dummies shooting in the dark hoping to hit something. They aren't making billion dollar decisions based on emotion and "I hope this works out but if it doesn't, oh well" mentality.

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FSU's Private Equity Possibilities