FSU taps JPMorgan for equity raise amid exploration of a potential departure from the ACC

August 7, 2023: Florida State University has been operating with JPMorgan as it explores options to bring in funding from institutional investors, according to a individual familiar with the matter.

The discussions have been ongoing in recent months, and Sixth Street Partners has said interest as an investor, the person said.

Is the funding specifically for FSU’s athletic department or other parts of the university? Nevertheless, the university’s president reportedly told its Board of Trustees this week that they would have to seriously consider exiting the Atlantic Coast Conference division of the NCAA if the conference’s revenue allocation model didn’t change.

According to someone familiar with the matter, the discussions with potential equity investors are not tied to FSU’s likely push to leave the conference.

Sportico earlier reported that FSU was working with JPMorgan and that Sixth Street was part of the talks.

Both JPMorgan and Sixth Street declined to comment. Representatives for FSU and the NCAA didn’t immediately respond to comment.

It’s uncommon for public universities to take funding from institutional investors.

In 2019, the Pac-12 conference said interest in selling a stake in its media rights to private equity firms but later didn’t move forward.

“That effort fell apart, mainly because it was challenging to mesh private investors with the possible media rights for public schools,” said sports media consultant Lee Berke.

“With FSU, we’re only talking about one public school, but the challenges associated with the private investment still apply,” Berke said. “The potential investors may want a relatively quick and predictable return on their investment, but it may take years for FSU to extricate itself out of its grant of rights and strike a new, substantially larger media deal with the ACC or another conference.”

While other NCAA divisions like the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference recently signed lucrative media rights deals, the ACC has been locked into an agreement with ESPN that runs until 2036.

Media rights deals are often a significant source of revenue for teams and leagues in both professional and collegiate sports.

The ACC’s revenue distribution model has recently changed to reward those who are additionally successful in football and basketball. FSU has been vocal in pushing for a change to this model so that it would instead reward schools that generate higher TV revenue.