Good morning, and thanks for spending part of your day with Extra Points.
On Wednesday afternoon, Pete Thamel and Dan Wetzel over at ESPN took a crowbar to my editorial calendar, reporting that the Big Ten is in discussions over a substantial private capital deal.
That the Big Ten was sniffing around private capital wasn’t huge news, as multiple sports business outlets reported at least some measure of interest earlier this year. Just about every major college sports conference has taken multiple meetings with outside investors. But so far, no deal has actually been executed, despite substantial interest from both sides.
Via the ESPN story, which other reporters have since confirmed: