Big 12 in Advanced Talks for Deal With RedBird-Backed Fund

The Big 12 Conference is in advanced talks with an investment firm backed by RedBird Capital and Weatherford Capital for a $500 million cash injection, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The deal, via Collegiate Athletic Solutions, known as CAS, follows failed talks earlier in the year for a direct investment into the Big 12, and would mark the first major conference-wide capital deal in major US college sports.

The partnership would offer the 16 member universities a line of credit of roughly $30 million each and is close to being finalized, the person added, asking not ...