RedBird Capital and Weatherford Capital Announce “Collegiate Athletic Solutions,” a Capital Solutions Platform for University Athletic Departments

By: RedBird Capital Partners LLC via GlobeNewswire

May 22, 2024 at 08:00 AM EDT

Purpose-built platform dedicated to supporting universities and their athletic departments during rapidly shifting intercollegiate economic model

By providing strategic capital solutions and operational expertise, CAS can drive incremental revenue growth to enhance ability for athletic departments to compete and win at the highest level

RedBird and Weatherford have decades of combined investment success partnering with premium sports (and non-sports) intellectual property owners to enhance player development and grow ticketing & hospitality, NIL monetization, sports media, and other revenue streams

NEW YORK and TAMPA, Fla., May 22, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RedBird Capital Partners and Weatherford Capital today announced Collegiate Athletic Solutions (“CAS”), a purpose-driven, dedicated capital and business-building platform for public and private university athletic departments across the United States. CAS aims to be a trusted advisor to university presidents, CFOs, and athletic directors, equipping the strategies and resources to operate efficiently while allowing their athletic program to compete at the highest level.

The CAS flexible capital solution can be deployed at the athletic department’s discretion and in conjunction with universities’ existing capital resources. CAS is purpose built to assist individual universities today while planning for future structural collegiate outcomes. Anticipating a revenue-sharing model, the CAS platform and capital can help offset incremental, athletic-related expenses and, when needed, right-size operating structures. Understanding that every state has nuanced governance, financial, and legal structures, CAS has developed bespoke programs to meet the needs of both public and private universities nationwide.

Gerry Cardinale, Founder and Managing Partner of RedBird Capital, said, “The paradigm shift we are seeing in the collegiate athletics ecosystem is similar to the ones we’ve seen with media distribution models, collective bargaining rights, and premium hospitality – they’re all centered around the need to create long-term growth by bridging the gap between premium IP and optimizing revenue streams. CAS addresses athletic departments’ need for near-term capital with additional operational expertise across strategies that can improve competitive positioning.”

Drew Weatherford, Founding Partner of Weatherford Capital, added, “We are in the late stages of the competitive divide between athletic departments and programs. The impact of conference re-alignment, diverging media rights deals, and the advent of NIL and revenue sharing is creating a greater financial divide at both the university and conference level. History has proven that the universities that adeptly invest in their athletic departments consistently win and outpace peer institutions. Our mission at CAS is to offer athletic departments a unique capital solution to invest when and where they need it to compete at the highest level during this tenuous paradigm shift.”

CAS can provide a debt-like cost of capital structure – without any fixed payments – with its returns tied to new revenue generation, incentivizing CAS to leverage its extensive experience in ticketing, hospitality, premium events, media rights, and IP monetization to drive sustainable long-term growth. This structure aligns CAS with athletic departments without burdening the overall university.

RedBird and Weatherford have long histories of partnering with premium rightsholders to help them monetize and optimize revenue streams around their assets. Combined areas of expertise include Player Support/Development (IMG Academy), Ticketing & Hospitality (Legends), Player Acquisition/Performance Analytics (Zelus Analytics), Premium Events (On Location Experiences), NIL Monetization (OneTeam), and Sports Media (EverPass Media).

About RedBird Capital Partners
RedBird Capital Partners is a private investment firm that builds high-growth companies with strategic capital solutions to founders and entrepreneurs. The firm currently manages $10 billion in assets on behalf of a global group of blue-chip institutional and family office investors. Founded in 2014 by Gerry Cardinale, RedBird integrates sophisticated private equity investing with a hands-on business-building mandate that focuses on three core industry verticals – Sports, Media & Entertainment, and Financial Services. Over his 30-year investment career, Cardinale has partnered with founders and entrepreneurs to build some of the most iconic growth companies in their respective industries. For more information, please go to www.redbirdcap.com.

About Weatherford Capital
Weatherford Capital is a private investment firm founded in 2015 with offices in Tampa and Dallas. The team has over 45 years of investment experience conducting over 70 transactions across the globe. Weatherford Capital prioritizes businesses across the technology, financials, and business and consumer services sectors—particularly companies operating in business-to-business (B2B), business-to-government (B2G), and other highly regulated industries. For more information, visit www.weatherfordcapital.com.