Does the Big 12 Even Want This Sack of Cash?

Does the Big 12 Even Want This Sack of Cash?

From Split Zone Duo: College Football Podcast by Richard Johnson and Alex Kirshner

May 7, 2026 · 15 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the Big 12's financial strategies and implications for its member schools, featuring insights on revenue generation and recent developments in college sports.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.splitzoneduo.com Extra Points publisher Matt Brown joins Alex and Richard for this subscriber edition of the Sports Business Hour, starting with the Big 12’s RedBird Capital deal and why a lot of schools that need money might still say no to expensive outside cash. From there, the group gets into what “revenue generation” can mean for a conference office, how Utah’s private-equity idea differs from a loan, why winning alone is a shaky athletic department business plan, and what Duke’s new Amazon arrangement does and does not reveal about the future of conference s media rights. The episode closes with Brendan Sorsby’s unsettled gambling case, where NCAA enforcement, Texas Tech, the NFL, and some (actually) serious lawyers could all wind up in the same big story. In this subscriber episode : * 0:16: RedBird, private capital, and why many Big 12 schools may pass on the league’s new borrowing option. * 5:00: Why the conference office, specifically, is taking the money * 15:02: The latest in “winning is not a business model,” with case studies from Indiana and South Carolina * 23:02: ACC meetings primer: Uneven…

People in this episode

Hosts: Alex Kirshner, Richard Johnson

Guest: Matt Brown

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: RedBird Capital, NCAA, Texas Tech, Amazon, ESPN, Big Ten, ACC

Places: Utah, Indiana, South Carolina

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