The Utah Utes have just ushered in a new era of college football.
With a deal set to be finalized in early 2026, Utah will be the first college athletic department to receive private equity funding.
In partnership with New York-based firm Otro Capital, the University has created Utah Brands & Entertainment, a for-profit organization that will house the money received from Otro, which in time will exceed the initial investment of $400 million.
Since the inception of the Name, Image and Likeness era of college athletics, several institutions, Utah included, have struggled to keep up with the price of an ever changing and highly demanding new age of college football.
With athletics spending at an all-time high, Utah needed to make a change, and the Utes should be applauded for this move with Otro Capital.
As part of this deal, the university will maintain control of its budget allocation to NIL, ticket sales and other business expenses related to the various athletic departments on campus.
We have seen in recent years that it pays to have a comfortable NIL spending budget, and Utah has just made a move to ensure it can compete with the best in the coming years.
While an investment deal of this magnitude certainly poses risks to the university and its budget, the pros of this deal outweigh the potential cons.
"I think we can go from surviving to thriving," Utah trustee Bassam Salem said of the deal in a release.
Salem additionally addressed the reality of business and college athletics saying, "Are there risks? Yes. Am I concerned? Yes."
This deal is essentially like giving candy to a baby.
Now with the backing of a multi-million-dollar private equity firm, the University of Utah will have a generous budget sure to push its athletics to an elite level.
But if the team fails to perform or misuses the increased budget it has been given, harsh consequences are sure to arrive that could bring several legal issues.
Just as a baby with candy could develop the bad habit of over-indulging and development of tooth rot; sometime in the future, Utah could find itself back in the throes of debt, rendering its private equity deal useless and or voided in time.
What we are most likely to see as a result of this deal, is an influx in other schools merging with private equity firms.
If Utah is able to show that this gamble can pay off, by increasing recruitment talent and entering championship conversations, more universities and their athletic departments will feel inclined to make this kind of move.
One thing is for certain -- Utah just opened the door to a side of college football that no one has seen before, and that will change the game forever.