From The Athletic, today (pretty much a rehash) :
The Big 12 isn’t the only Football Bowl Subdivision conference considering selling its naming rights to a sponsor. At least three Group of 5 conferences have held discussions on the topic as well, including Conference USA, the American and the Mountain West, multiple people involved in the discussions told The Athletic.
New AAC commissioner Tim Pernetti told The Athletic that he brought up the idea of conference naming rights during his interview for the conference’s top job earlier this year, and it remains a point of discussion. With a background in sports business and private equity, Pernetti has been very open to finding new revenue streams for college sports.
“Nothing should be off the table,” Pernetti said.
Pernetti believes brands and companies have a strong affinity for college sports, and there are ways that partnerships can strengthen programs at a time of great change. As Rutgers’ athletic director, he helped sell the naming rights to the Scarlet Knights’ football stadium. He also negotiated the jersey sponsorship for New York City FC during his time as the MLS club’s chief business officer. Pernetti emphasized that it’s not simply about who offers the most money. The brand has to fit.
At the Group of 5 level, schools will see less money distributed from the NCAA in order for the organization to cover the back pay damages from the House settlement, and the new massive CFP contract won’t provide much more money for their leagues.
So everything is up for discussion, including the possibility of renaming a conference or adding a sponsor to the existing name.
“These are the conversations we need to have,” Pernetti said.
Yes this will certainly be happening in the future, but at least the conference and networks will be ones to dictate the outcome as opposed to private equity. The PE guys are going to squeeze every ounce of water out of the Big 12 stone that they can and if you're an underperforming asset they are going to treat you like one.
What's going to happen when the PE guys go to Iowa State, UCF, Baylor, UH or whoever and tell them "hey you guys have nowhere else to go. You want to stay in the P4? Prove it. No revenue unless you earn it on the field."
Those sort of things will happen with PE if not far worse.
This is going to happen in a lot of conferences in the future. Florida State and Clemson have already been asking for this in the ACC. Boise gets more revenue in the MWC.
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