Thee University said:

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60% of Baylor's Women's tennis roster are from other countries.

80% of Baylor's Men's tennis roster are from other countries.

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D1 golf rosters follow a similar trend.

Yes they do.

Baylor golf has only 1 foreign male golfer but the women's roster lists 5 foreigners out of 8 women.

All of these recent developments the last few years sucks for most fans… but the bottom line just keeps getting bigger

Big Ten generates whopping $1.47 billion, disburses $1.37 billion to its members in 1st year after media rights deal, CFP expansion@TheAthleticCFB https://t.co/6lvbi6qIBj

— Scott Dochterman (@ScottDochterman) May 1, 2026

This is a great read. Also shows how disturbing College Athletics have become.

BIG 12 Schools can borrow up to $30 million (at a double-digit interest rate) against revenue that doesn’t exist yet, to be paid back by withholding their annual conference distributions. Revenue… https://t.co/VA5CHawwUX

— Andrew Caraway (@Caraway6) May 2, 2026

NEW: Michigan's Kyle Whittingham predicts 12-15 schools will have $50M rosters after the 2027 recruiting cycle💰

"There are a few schools that can weather that, but not many. So it’s already unsustainable for most schools and is only going to get more so until we come up with a… https://t.co/gH2vUZhpzv pic.twitter.com/9OzA11qMxp

— On3 (@On3) May 2, 2026

Thee University said:

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Yes they do.

Baylor golf has only 1 foreign male golfer but the women's roster lists 5 foreigners out of 8 women.

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I've heard college coaches prefer international players because

-they've been training for this since they were 7 years old
-The parents are FAR away and can't meddle into affairs


But you are not going to get much sympathy if your team is 90% international and is on the chopping block.

well there's 2 things together that I don't care for...

Texas A&M is ROCKING hours before the Savannah Bananas and Texas Tailgaters start the game at 8pm ET pic.twitter.com/FoY7ydGuwN

— Banana Ball (@BananaBall_) May 2, 2026

The scenes from the @BananaBall_ game at Kyle Field 🔥

Watch on ESPN/ESPN App/Disney+ 🍿 pic.twitter.com/Wu8zI4G2KE

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 3, 2026

Wonder what BU will do?

Houston does not plan to opt-in to the one-time capital credit option made available to Big 12 schools as part of recent partnership with RedBird Capital and Weatherford Capital, athletic director Eddie Nuñez tells @HoustonChron

— Joseph Duarte (@Joseph_Duarte) May 4, 2026

Houston AD Eddie Nuñez:
“We are supportive of what RedBird is bringing to the table but as an institution right now we are not considering the school-level investment that they have offered.” https://t.co/LCWLOhYEzI

— Joseph Duarte (@Joseph_Duarte) May 4, 2026

Women's team:
USA players: 3
International: 6

Men's team:
USA: 4
International: 4

BREAKING: Wichita State is discontinuing its men’s and women’s golf programs, effective immediately.

The move comes after an evaluation of athletic resources as costs continue to rise across Division I programs.

More here: https://t.co/zJDp3cHGDT pic.twitter.com/t6sxwZ09bj

— Kansas Sports Central (@KSSCentral) May 5, 2026

Glad to see Baylor won't be getting in bed with private equity. By my count that is now 4 of the big 12 schools that won't be taking the deal.

Baylor and TCU: also not taking the money:https://t.co/8xJ50NL7zK https://t.co/OAC7l76SF4

— Matt Brown (@MattBrownEP) May 7, 2026

boognish_bear said:

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Glad to see Baylor won't be getting in bed with private equity. By my count that is now 4 of the big 12 schools that won't be taking the deal.

Baylor and TCU: also not taking the money:https://t.co/8xJ50NL7zK https://t.co/OAC7l76SF4

— Matt Brown (@MattBrownEP) May 7, 2026

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I have not read much about this deal but I am not understanding why schools are not taking it? Is it essentially a sponsor and they don't want that sponsor? Why would schools not want a deal that gets them money?

https://frontofficesports.com/majority-of-big-12-schools-are-turning-down-30m-redbird-credit-option/

Majority of Big 12 Schools Are Turning Down $30M RedBird Credit Option

Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
More than half of the Big 12 schools have already decided to decline the option for a line of credit up to $30 million as part of the conference's new deal with RedBird Capital Partners and Weatherford Capital. Texas Tech, Iowa State, Colorado, and Kansas State will not opt in, Front Office Sports has learned, in addition to several previously reported schools.

The deal, which was approved just over a week ago, includes a $12.5 million infusion of capital for the Big 12 at the conference level to be reinvested, a business partnership for RedBird to help source deals for the Big 12, and the credit option that would be between the firms and schools.

As of now, the window to accept the credit line will be open for one year. Schools are not required to take the money, but if they do, the Big 12 would withhold a portion of their annual school distribution for the private-equity firms on an annual fixed repayment schedule.

If all schools were to take the deal, RedBird and Weatherford could shell out a total of $500 million. But it looks like that won't be necessary.

Texas Tech will decline the credit option, Front Office Sports confirmed Thursday.
Colorado told FOS in a statement that it "is not opting in" to the credit option. But it added it "supports the Big 12's agreement with RedBird Capital and Weatherford Capital, and we are confident that this agreement positions the conference and its member institutions for success in the current dynamic environment of college athletics."
An Iowa State spokesperson told FOS: "While we are appreciative of the Big 12's efforts we do not plan to use the line of credit."
Baylor, Cincinnati, Houston, TCU, UCF, and West Virginia have all told local news outlets that they will be holding off on the credit lineat least for now.
Kansas hasn't yet decided whether it will utilize the credit option.
A Kansas State spokesperson said the school "does not plan to utilize" the credit option.
Representatives for Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, Oklahoma State, and Utah did not immediately respond to a FOS request for comment.

Utah in December struck an investment deal with private-equity firm Otro Capital for managing revenue-generating athletic operations.

A RedBird spokesperson sent the following statement to FOS: "This partnership is much bigger than just capital to schoolsit's a commercial partnership where RedBird and Weatherford are delivering commercial revenue to the Big 12. We are playing the long game where schools have one year to opt in for when the landscape becomes clearer for the ecosystem and individual needs. It's not intended to be a one-time offer, it's a long-term feature of a broader agreement for the Big 12 and their member schools."

The Big 12 declined to comment when reached by FOS.

PE's College Push

The Big 12's pact with RedBird comes as private-equity firms continue to search for more entry points into college sports.

Learfielda longtime college-sports-focused company that partners with athletic departments to procure sponsorships, media deals, and now NIL opportunities for athleteslast month sold a controlling stake to PE firm TPG in a deal worth about $2 billion.

The Big Ten was close to finalizing a private-capital investment from UC Investments, a pension fund for the University of California system, that would have given UC Investments an ownership stake in Big Ten assets, but the deal fell apart when multiple schools objected.

Editors' note: RedBird IMI, in which RedBird Capital Partners is a joint venture partner, is the primary investor in Front Office Sports.

College football has committed itself to transitioning from being a completely unique and fun alternative to the NFL with its own character to being a shitty NFL knock off that dispenses with all that was great about CFB and replaces it with none of what is great about the NFL

— Three Year Letterman (@3YearLetterman) May 7, 2026

The year is 2046. College football has a 64 team playoff. Notre Dame gets an automatic bid if they win 1 regular season game. Every game is played in Atlanta or Dallas. National championship game is the first week of March. Transfer portal is open weekly. Presented by Fan Duel

— Tony Roundtree (@Tonywithyy) May 7, 2026

I feel like private equitys goal is to eliminate anything that is not profitable...

I.e. - all the small sports

boognish_bear said:

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The year is 2046. College football has a 64 team playoff. Notre Dame gets an automatic bid if they win 1 regular season game. Every game is played in Atlanta or Dallas. National championship game is the first week of March. Transfer portal is open weekly. Presented by Fan Duel

— Tony Roundtree (@Tonywithyy) May 7, 2026

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You forgot the part where it is played by robots and the ball is replaced by a bomb on a timer. At least that would make it interesting again.

Actually I do wonder how far we are from robots being able to replace players.

That $30mil should be viewed like a payday loan. It's just not useful as an operating procedure. I guess, in a limited circumstance, there could be a situation where quick liquidity was needed to cover an NIL obligation (or equivalent), and you'd be able to pay it off instantly, but that's seems really rare.

When your competition for player payroll is other programs with $70million and up revenues, a one time extra $30million loan at ruinous rates seems insane.

Realitybites said:

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boognish_bear said:

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The year is 2046. College football has a 64 team playoff. Notre Dame gets an automatic bid if they win 1 regular season game. Every game is played in Atlanta or Dallas. National championship game is the first week of March. Transfer portal is open weekly. Presented by Fan Duel

— Tony Roundtree (@Tonywithyy) May 7, 2026

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You forgot the part where it is played by robots and the ball is replaced by a bomb on a timer. At least that would make it interesting again.

Actually I do wonder how far we are from robots being able to replace players.

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And there is a "Dr Pepper Fansville" commercial every 45 seconds between plays.

Realitybites said:

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boognish_bear said:

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The year is 2046. College football has a 64 team playoff. Notre Dame gets an automatic bid if they win 1 regular season game. Every game is played in Atlanta or Dallas. National championship game is the first week of March. Transfer portal is open weekly. Presented by Fan Duel

— Tony Roundtree (@Tonywithyy) May 7, 2026

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You forgot the part where it is played by robots and the ball is replaced by a bomb on a timer. At least that would make it interesting again.

Actually I do wonder how far we are from robots being able to replace players.

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Closer than we think, since robots will play for free, unless F(ake)I runs amok. So OK, never mind......

I am assuming as the number grows of schools turning it down the pressure on the remaining schools must grow to do the same.

Did Yormark not run this past the ADs first? Does this relationship somehow benefit the big 12 in ways beyond the cash offer to schools?

Houston, UCF, BYU, Colorado, Kansas State, Arizona, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, Baylor, TCU, Texas Tech, West Virginia, and Cincinnati have all said no.

That leaves Utah, Kansas, and Arizona State left to make a decision. https://t.co/IAm5AaH39X

— Ten12 Podcast Network (@Ten12Network) May 8, 2026

Private school conference is the way to save college football from a Baylor perspective.

Baylor
SMU
TCU
Rice
Boston College
Duke
Northwestern
Stanford
Syracuse
Tulsa
Tulane
Miami
Notre Dame
USC
Vanderbilt
Wake Forest

Invite Yale, Harvard, Penn, Cornell, Georgetown, etc.

Yes, the supposed Blue Chippers will still chase the dream of NFL paydays. But, how many blue chippers never pan out?

The reality remains…..only 7% of high school kids go play college football.

The reality remains…..only 1.6% of college football players will get drafted into the NFL.

Marketed correctly and aggressively the Private School Conference could be a HUGE win for Baylor.

According to @CalAthletics 2024–25 financial report, the Bears received $22,798,373 in @theACC conf distributions (reduced T1 share, ACCN share, and non-media/bowl revenue). At the same time, team travel costs jumped from $10.3M to $14.3M in their debut ACC season, nearly 40%… pic.twitter.com/mzHte3ZMDN

— Luke Fletcher (@ramblinroundup) May 8, 2026

Thee University said:

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Private school conference is the way to save college football from a Baylor perspective.

Baylor
SMU
TCU
Rice
Boston College
Duke
Northwestern
Stanford
Syracuse
Tulsa
Tulane
Miami
Notre Dame
USC
Vanderbilt
Wake Forest

Invite Yale, Harvard, Penn, Cornell, Georgetown, etc.

Yes, the supposed Blue Chippers will still chase the dream of NFL paydays. But, how many blue chippers never pan out?

The reality remains…..only 7% of high school kids go play college football.

The reality remains…..only 1.6% of college football players will get drafted into the NFL.

Marketed correctly and aggressively the Private School Conference could be a HUGE win for Baylor.

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One benefit of your idea is that Baylor could refocus on its academic mission and devote more resources to education. BU was not created to operate as an underfunded professional sports enterprise.

With the roster cost approaching $50 million in 2027 according to Michigan's new coach BU has some consequential decisions to make.

Quote:

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Whittingham told Jake Butt on The Blue Print podcast. "Again, it's in that order of importance. There's going to be several teams in this '27 recruiting cycle that are $50 million-plus rosters. You've either got to keep up and embrace that or embrace irrelevance because it's not changing, at least, right away.

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boognish_bear said:

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According to @CalAthletics 2024–25 financial report, the Bears received $22,798,373 in @theACC conf distributions (reduced T1 share, ACCN share, and non-media/bowl revenue). At the same time, team travel costs jumped from $10.3M to $14.3M in their debut ACC season, nearly 40%… pic.twitter.com/mzHte3ZMDN

— Luke Fletcher (@ramblinroundup) May 8, 2026

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Schools trying to make more money in sports....

In an exclusive interview with @CBSSports this week, RedBird Capital's Gerry Cardinale and Robert Klein walked through how they say their new partnership with the Big 12 is structured to help close the revenue gap between the Big 12 and Big Ten/SEC.https://t.co/KKW6a5SEXG pic.twitter.com/b2b5K0tFwS

— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) May 12, 2026

I was curious as to how RedBird was going to make $35mil per team equal or competitive with $70mil per team. Didn't seem likely, so I read the interview.

First, it seems they're doing a traditional sponsorship. PayPal and Venmo are kicking in $100mil to the Big 12 for on-field branding, some NIL payment conduit rights, and some co-branded team credit cards. That plays out to around $8mil per team or so.

The 2nd leg seems to be "visionary". It's asking the teams to embrace non-traditional revenue models for broadcasting and branding. This seems very nonspecific. Like any old marketroid saying "Go create value". Well, duh. If it were that easy, we'd be doing it. The RedBird guy plays up his success with the YES network he created for the New York Yankees (side note: when you have a property like the Yankees, it's kind of easy to sell stuff. If the Big 12 were at the NYY level of popularity, traditional media would already be writing those checks).

Finally, there's the already publicized $30mil credit line (at double digit interests). It's a payday loan borrowed against future earnings. This should be dismissed out of hand for anything other than a very unique need.

I'm no one's investor. Not a go-to person for entrepreneurship. However, I wouldn't give up any percentage ownership or stakes. It seems each team could see a one-time $10mil boost, then watch as outside partners get no return and lose interest.

Iowa State AD Jamie Pollard on SEC/Big Ten threatening to break away to form its own league:

“Let them break away. We should break away from them. Let them go, but they have to go in all their sports & see how fun it is to play baseball, softball & track when it’s just the 20 of…

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) May 19, 2026

boognish_bear said:

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Iowa State AD Jamie Pollard on SEC/Big Ten threatening to break away to form its own league:

“Let them break away. We should break away from them. Let them go, but they have to go in all their sports & see how fun it is to play baseball, softball & track when it’s just the 20 of…

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) May 19, 2026

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preach

boognish_bear said:

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Iowa State AD Jamie Pollard on SEC/Big Ten threatening to break away to form its own league:

“Let them break away. We should break away from them. Let them go, but they have to go in all their sports & see how fun it is to play baseball, softball & track when it’s just the 20 of…

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) May 19, 2026

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Exactly. If they ever decide to break away and form a super conference or classification then no team in what is left of Division 1 (FCS or FBS) should ever play them again in any sport.

See how quickly they would be begging everyone to come back. See how quickly the TV viewership would dry up when people don't want to watch a conference that is not connected to their school.

Anyone think this is a great model?

College athletics is so crazy now.

Cal baseball, a team located on the Pacific coast but somehow in the ACC, flew to Charlotte, North Carolina for a single-elimination conference tournament game against Stanford… a school 90 minutes from their campus.

They traveled 2,715 miles… pic.twitter.com/DyPfZzQ3Cy

— Jordan Moore (@iJordanMoore) May 20, 2026