Big 12 Announces RedBird Capital credit option, and strikes out big time

The Big 12 announced a partnership with RedBird Capital and Weatherford Capital in April, which had been in the negotiating stage since November 2025. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormack wanted to find outside business partners that could create revenue, give short-term cash, and help teams compete financially. All of this came with the recent explosion of NIL, revenue sharing, and just how it overall costs to build and maintain a top-tier football program. RedBird and Weatherford invested at a conference level, which was $12.5 Million, which will help fund media ventures, branding, business projects, and commercial growth. RedBird and Weatherford offered each Big 12 school 30 million, an optional line of credit with a reported 10% interest rate ($33 Million). If a school were to opt in to the loan, the $33 million they owe with interest would be taken out through revenue sharing of TV deals and NCAA distributions. Schools have to opt in to receive the money, which no one has done so far; the only schools to not outright turned down the loan are Kansas, Utah, and Arizona State.

The deal between RedBird, Weatherford, and the Big 12 will last until spring 2031 and is likely the first stone to fall in deals like these. If this were to happen in a different conference like the Pac-12, Mountain West or American, teams would have more of an incentive to take the money. Their conference doesn't have TV deals and sharing like the Power 5; they can show with Power 5 money that they can compete. It's just a matter of time before a program like Memphis, Tulsa, Tulane, and USF start to make a name for themselves.

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