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Greg Byrne addresses prospect of private equity to fund Alabama's revenue sharing

63571867_t466o7i5ncby: Blake Byler06/10/25blakebyler45
Alabama AD Greg Byrne
Alabama AD Greg Byrne (Gary Cosby Jr. / Imagn Images)

The House vs. NCAA settlement being passed this week has now paved the way for colleges and universities to pay collegiate athletes directly for their play through revenue sharing. Each school participating in the revenue sharing model will need to budget $20.5 million to be divvied among the school’s athletic programs.

The idea of private equity as an option for funding the new budget item has been floated around since the passing of the settlement. Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne discussed the possibility, and whether Alabama would entertain it, joining McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning on WJOX on Tuesday.

“We’ve had all sorts of people from private equity come at us,” Byrne said. “We’re Alabama, people often want to have us involved in different things. I have not seen a model that makes any sense whatsoever. Private equity is not going to care about Olympic sports. They’re not going to care about the academics and the responsibilities we have there. They are bottom line driven. They are really good at what they do. Could I see a program ever doing that? I guess. But private equity is going to want their return. At the same time, too, at some point you’re going to have to pay the piper if you have private equity.”

“You better make sure you can far exceed the growth you can do on your own if you’re going to bring somebody else in, because we do have a responsibility in so many different ways that maybe doesn’t make a lot of business sense, but is important to the fiber and the fabric of what college athletics represents.”

For full details on the House v. NCAA settlement, read the latest from On3’s Pete Nakos.

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