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Speaker 1: Cougar's opponents and rivals Right now, I need to know

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the faux segment on Cougar Sports with Ben Kreteler.

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Speaker 2: Welcome back of your Sports one of three nine ninety

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point three ESPN the Fan.

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Speaker 1: I'm Decuital broadcasting from our band Er Wild Studios Batterwealth

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dot Com. That's band Together Builder. We'll save our money

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It is stuff for another faux segment UH slash little

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college football segment, and we're gonna get to know what's

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going on up on.

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Speaker 2: The hill the uh.

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Speaker 1: The University of Utah has executed one of a kind,

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first of its guide private equity deal. We'll see if

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it passes, see if everything's kosher, et cetera. But it's

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pretty monumental. H The first domino of private equity has fallen,

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and it's right here in the state of Utah. We're

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gonna get to know what's happening up in Salt Lake

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City from an insight here momentarily. It's going to be

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Speaker 2: To do it as well, shoot Gabby a text, give

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her a call. Eight oh one.

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Speaker 2: Let's get out to the hotline.

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Speaker 1: Welcome in my good friend, Josh FURLONGKSL dot com, University

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of Utah insider Josh.

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Speaker 2: How you living do it well?

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Speaker 3: How are you ben doing?

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Speaker 2: Awesome? Man?

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Speaker 1: How crazy? Has the last well seventy two hours been

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for you.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's been. I mean, this is one of

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those things where you know, as a sports reporter you're

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not really well versed in like private equity or anything

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like that, and so it's like it's a learning curve

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and everything that way. But I think, you know, you

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pick up things along the way and you try to

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make it the most of it. But it's it's crazy.

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I mean, I think this is a new evolution of

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the NCAA and we're going to see a lot of this, right, Like,

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we're going to see a lot of differences this way,

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and we're going to be much more well versed in

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business side of things instead of just what's happening on

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the field or on the court. So it's it's interesting.

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Speaker 2: No, no, Lo, what have you learned through this process? Right?

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Speaker 1: You're an inquisitive soul. That's why you became a journalist.

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You like to ask questions, You like to learn about

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all manner of things. Obviously sports things are what you

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love the most. But what have you learned this process?

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With the private equity deal executed this week?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think a lot of people hear

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private equity and they get scared right, and admittedly, like

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what was that last year when brett Ormart kind of

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broached the subject of potentially having private equity for the

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Big twelve. I mean, I think you hear that and

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there's negative connotations about how they're just going to come

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in and they're going to gut everything, and you know,

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it's not going to work out this this deal. You know,

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I've learned that it's a little bit different. And then look,

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I'm the last person to understand all the nuances of

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what private equity is or anything that way. But at

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the same time, I think what they're doing here is

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they're trying to more build you know, investments for high

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end donors. People that want to be able to promote

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the university, want to be able to be heavily invested.

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And you know, I think you hear a lot of

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a lot of people donors, especially who are kind of

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frustrated with the process. Right, you throw in a bunch

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of cash, it goes to players, and there's no real

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guarantee that it actually goes to them or that they

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stay and so there's kind of like some burnout with

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with donors in the sense of giving cash. And so

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I think it's it's one of those situations now where

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you're investing in an actual company and using those funds

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to be able to help some of this stuff. So

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I think there's there's advantages there, you know, that has

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opportunities where you can get more support from the don

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owners where they're putting in a lot more.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 3: I think a lot of people also see the five

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hundred million dollar figure that's being thrown out of that's

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all coming from the private equity firm and in reality,

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a lot of this is coming from donors. Uh, they're

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putting in their investment. They want to get that piece

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of the University of Uta athletics department, that kind of stuff,

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and so it's just kind of like a group effort,

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so to speak, to kind of make it work. So, look,

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there's still risk. Any business venture is going to have risks,

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and I think we won't know about that until you know,

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five seven years from now. But I think it seems

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like they're trying to go about it the right way.

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It's just it's hard to know, right anytime you get

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an upfront cash, it's hard to know what that's going

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to do for an entity that that you know, this

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is a new realm.

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Speaker 1: For strategically, who gets to decide where the the influx

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of cash is going to? Right, Obviously you have nil,

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you have operations, you have personnel. Is it going to

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be kind of the board that sits over the Utah

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brand sports in lls the l Is it going to

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be that border trustees which is made up of the donors,

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made up of some administrator a d oo s Mark Harlan.

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Speaker 2: Do we know what the border of trustees for the

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brand is going to look like?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it'll definitely be made up of a

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compilation of that. They have, you know, four people that

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will be a part of the athletics department, you know,

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the actual brands and entertainment company. You'll have four donors

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I believe it was, and then I think it's two

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or one and one of of some capacity of ultro capital.

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And so there's there's going to be a wide makeup

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of it. But at the end of the day, the

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university owns the controlling interests or the majority shareholder, and

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so they're going to have the decision making abilities there.

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Now with that, you know, they'd be stupid not to

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listen to some of the expertise that A lot of

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these sports. You know, the Ultra Capital has because they

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have been in this in this realm. They you know,

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they've managed the Dallas Cowboys, They've managed the Cleveland Browns,

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They've managed some F one stuff, So they have understanding

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of like what it takes to be able to whether

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it be facility upgrades or sponsorship ideas on what to

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do for athletes. You know, all of those things are

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going to be taken into account. But at the end

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of the day, the university itself has controlling interests, and

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so I don't know how that's necessarily going to be

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manifest through the board. I don't know if it's you know,

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the four people or the whatever gets a majority share.

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I would assume just simply because there's one member of

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Ultra Capital on there and there's eight other members of

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the board that are donors in the university. But there's

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just a simple majority that way. But I think there's

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there's enough insulation or mitigation that they feel like they

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can they can still have the controlling interest while still

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listening to kind of what these guys want to do

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to help the brand.

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Speaker 1: Josh Furlong KSL dot com uti utes insider here on

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your Utah ESPN Radio Network.

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Speaker 2: Josh is this.

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Speaker 1: I was chatting with someone yesterday that as well familiar

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with private equity, said, look like one of the reasons

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why they're doing this is because the state legislator has,

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like has legislature has cut funds to the state run

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institutions and that may impact athletics and athletic departments.

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Speaker 2: Have you seen that?

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Speaker 1: Have you heard that why they're going down this path

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there at the University of Utah.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I think it's a compilation of things, right,

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Whether it's one solitary thing, I don't think that's the case.

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I think there's just a combination of factors here where one,

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you know, the University of Utah suddenly has to throw

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out twenty million dollars in cash for revenue share. You know,

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that's money that you're not necessarily accounting for in the past.

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You can't just suddenly make up twenty million dollars in

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the budget without cutting certain things or different things that way.

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So there's there's that component where you're trying to just

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survive and make it work, and so you've got that,

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but then it's also just trying to position Utah as

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an institution for whatever the next realm of whether it

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be realignment or you know, consolidation, that is right. I

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know a lot of people will look at this and say, oh,

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it's the big ten. They're trying to go for the

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big ten. Maybe maybe, But I think it's really just

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kind of trying to position themselves in a way where

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if they don't answer the call right now, they face

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the risk of just not being able to have the

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funds to be able to operate. Do you then have

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to cut you know, softball, Do you have to cut volleyball?

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Do you have to cut certain sports that try to

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stay afloat? And that's just not really something that the

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university wants to do. So it's this is kind of

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a bigger hitcher, so to speak, in terms of kind

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of trying to maximize their potential while still preparing for

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what that next round could be going to. There's still

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no guarantee, right Like there's no guarantee that UTAH will

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be caught up in you know, a Super League or

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or whatever that may be. It's more just kind of

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preparing for the institution right now, giving them the money

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they need to operate, and then being able to have

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capital in the future should they need it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a crazy time in the college football world.

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The landscape is ever changing, and I think it's phenomenal

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that Utah is being so a great suv in this venture.

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A lot of people like you that have reached out

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to me and say, hey, well, how does this work.

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You have a for profit entity that's taking the brand

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of the University of Utah. You have you know, state

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funds and taxis and student fees that kind of booy

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up the athletic department typically along with their TV revenues

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and other things like I don't see all the funnels

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that go into a traditional athletic department, but I can't.

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I don't know what the last fiscal you know, twenty

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twenty three, what the revenue generated was within the Utah

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Athletic Department, but I imagine it was anywhere from one hundred

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and thirty to hundred and fifty million. Do you know

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that number? By by chance? The last number that you

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got for revenue generation for the US Department of Education

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at the University of Utah.

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Speaker 3: I have a spreadshoot with it all. I mean, if

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I remember right before they had their Comcast issue last year,

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the last year where they kind of got it all together.

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It was somewhere I'm going to be totally way off,

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but yeah, it's it's definitely over one hundred million and

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trying to be it. But that's you know, taking into

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account everything without taking in the expenditures and everything in

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that way. So it's it's up there, but then you

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have to take in everything else, and you know you're

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you're you're operating before this Comcast piasco, they were operating

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it anywhere between two to four million the surplus, So

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it's it's different, right, I mean, it's it's hard to

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know exactly what that's going to be. But then you know,

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we haven't even seen the twenty million figure come into

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that knowing that that's going to essentially be a huge

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deficit for the program.

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Speaker 2: Yep, yep, no doubt about it.

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Speaker 1: It's uh, it's intriguing from a Title nine standpoint, right,

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So it's like, if this is a for profit entity,

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you know, how how are scholarships allocated?

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Speaker 2: And how how is I guess.

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Speaker 1: You know, how does that impact He's typically football subsidizes

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all the other Olympic sports, right, so any revenue generated

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within football and basketball, maybe the profit generating or the

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profit retaining entities.

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Speaker 2: You know, they subsidize the other Olympic sports. How is

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that going to work out?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, there shouldn't. There shouldn't be any change per se,

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because they still have to have the you know, the

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the regulations of the NCAA. If they try to change anything,

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then they can't even be a member of the NCAAA.

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So they've gone through a lot of these different things

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to make sure that they're compliant, that they're withholding that.

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You know, there's you know, at least based on the

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way that they presented to that presented it, excuse me

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to the board, there was no desire to at Olympic sports.

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There's no desire to cut women sports. If anything, they

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felt like just can bolster that more and give them

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more support in that. So it's you know, they still

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have to be compliant at all that they still have

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to fill out that NCAA regulation form where you account

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for all their funds and different things that way, and

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so from my understanding, there shouldn't be any change with that.

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But I'm sure they could divvy up a little bit

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more money to certain areas. You know, there's always going

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to be that Title nine component as part of this,

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But I don't think the Title nine requirement requires that that.

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You know, volleyball needs to get the exact same payment

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that a football player does, right, So I think there's

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that element of it. I think it's more just giving

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the same access and an ability which won't change just

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because they've got a for profit company.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, Andrew Peterson here, I just have a question for

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you concerning the basketball team, how this might affect them.

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Speaker 2: I've always thought that Utah.

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Speaker 4: Utah falling off in basketball has always felt a little

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bit weird to me. Do you think this deal helps

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Utah be able to invest in basketball, get competitive in

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the Big twelve, and get back to where they used

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to be as a really good basketball program.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think that has to be. Right, Like,

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if you go sit here and you sign, let's just

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assume it's five hundred million, Let's you know, if you

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get that and you're not seeing a noticeable increase in

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kind of being able to attract good talent, what's the point.

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I mean, obviously there's a bigger point to that. Like,

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I think we can all understand that, but I think

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if you're not going out there and trying to attract

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the top talent and trying to bring in guys that

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are going to help your program. It feels like a waste.

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Now there's more components that go into it than just

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the people on the court. I mean, I think anybody

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that's gone to the University of Utah basketball games realizes

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it's a Stelle environment. Like there's just not engaging and

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entertaining situation there. I mean, back in kind of the

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good days of Larry Kristovac, you know, they had floor

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court projections, they had you know, a lot of entertainment,

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things were moving and just as a fun environment, whereas

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now it's just kind of a Stelle product. And that's

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on the court as well as the entertainment, And so

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I think it's trying to upgrade a lot of those

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types of things as well, where you're now bringing in

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a partner that understands how to bring entertainment to people.

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And if you can get that, I think then that

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starts attracting people, right. I mean, I think bi used

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done a phenomenal job of that of being able to

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attract people because of a great product, but also because

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it's just it's a show.

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Speaker 4: Right.

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Speaker 3: If you're a kid like my kids, love to go

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to basketball games. If they go to that, they're going

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to be excited beyond just what they get from what

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they see on the court. I think it kind of

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goes hand in hand in this situation. You've got to

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be able to increase the entertainment value as a product,

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but then you've got to do that in the in

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house stuff as well. So you know this, you know,

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if they don't do any of that, then yeah, this

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is a major failure in that regard. And and you'd

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have to wonder if if Utah is ever really going

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to take basketball seriously at that point.

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Speaker 1: Josh Furlong KSL dot com here on ESPN Thefan utah

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Ute inside or writing for KSL dot com.

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Speaker 2: Uh, you know, piggybacking off.

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Speaker 1: The basketball conversation one of the biggest issues. I mean,

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my wife's a ute. I've gone to many games at

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the Huntsman Center. It's a really tough parking situation. It's

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hard to get people there to the games. Obviously, When

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do you think some sort of renovation, some sort of

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move could happen for the arena and a change on

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the venue or access to the venue, anything that that

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could be executed on that front and how soon.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I had some conversations with somebody other

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day on that and they said, there's still really you know,

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maybe they don't know the full plans, but they said,

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there's still really no clear direction on when they're going

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to break round, right, I think, you know, for some people,

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they're still trying to determine a spot. I believe the

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university already has a spot picked out, but whether that

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happens sooner than later remains to be seen. I mean,

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I know the university is undertaking a lot of different

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changes to try to make sure a lot of that

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stuff works. They want to create kind of like an

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entertainment district where all of the athletics are kind of

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in the same area. So the belief would be that

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the new Hunts and Center, whatever it's called, would be

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closer to rights Eco Stadium. You could create a whole

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bunch of entertainment there and do that. So, you know,

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I don't think we're we're going to see anything quick.

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But at the same time, with this infusion of cash,

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maybe that speeds things up a little bit, allows them

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to kind of move forward and start breaking ground. But yeah,

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I mean, like they're still they're still running the same

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way with what they've got, and so I think you're

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in the middle of trying to manage that while still

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trying to, you know, prepare for the future and make

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a better product. But you can only dump so much

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cash into a product that's going to be raised in

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a few a few years, you know what I mean.

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So I think I think they're still kind of figuring

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that part out, but I think you'll see probably that

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move faster along now that they have the money.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Josh, is this the way of the future in

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your opinion? Knowing what you know, learning what you've learned,

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do you feel like you know a majority of athletic

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departments around the country are going to go down this path?

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Speaker 3: Yeah? I mean I think you know. Whether this is

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the exact path that everybody will go remains to be seen.

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But I think you're going to see a lot of this, right.

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I think you'll have a lot more people intrigued because

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Utah has signed the deal. I think somebody was waiting

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to be the first, right Like, this is not like

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Utah was the first to ever consider private equity, but

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I think this is going to be the way that

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you kind of have to fund college athletics, right, Uh,

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there's probably better ways to do it, but barring collective

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bargaining or barring you know, much more structure to be

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able to equalize or or at least create, you know,

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the structure essentially that you know, you're gonna have to

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find these outside avenues to be able to increase revenue

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and increase funds because it's just an arms rate that

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it's either going to break or people are just going

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to continue to find new ways to be able to

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bring in money.

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Speaker 1: So what are the risks, like, as you've asked questions,

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what are the true risks here? And what are the

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what's the potential fallout if there is if this is

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a failed venture, we're not talking about We're talking about

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bankruptcy of of of an entity that just reverts back

383
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to its old ways within the within the school, you

384
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know what I mean?

385
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Speaker 2: Like, is there a bailout?

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Speaker 1: Is it too big to fail type of deal like

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the car industry or any other you know, big big business,

388
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et cetera, that he's booed up by taxpayers?

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Speaker 2: What's what's the risk here?

390
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Speaker 3: See that's and that's where I'm still really curious kind

391
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of what that is right. When they talk about exit strategy,

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UTAH says that they own everything and they have the

393
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controlling interest of that. So you know, if OTRO Capital

394
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isn't you know, pulling their weight so to speak, or

395
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things aren't going well, you know they can they can

396
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remove them or whatever that may be. May mean obviously

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they're going to have to pay them out, so at

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the very least you're going to be in debt to

399
00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:33,480
what you owe them, if that has to be an

400
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early situation. But I don't know that there's necessarily I

401
00:18:37,279 --> 00:18:38,839
don't want to call it a failure right because I

402
00:18:38,839 --> 00:18:41,920
think there's obviously failure opportunities. But I think because you

403
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have a donor base that is going to be buying

404
00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:46,960
into this, it's more can it be sustainable?

405
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Speaker 2: Right?

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Speaker 3: Can this be something where you can continue to move

407
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forward with it without just kind of middling along? Like

408
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there has to be some sort of increase in revenue

409
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to be able to make sure this works. And so

410
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if you're just getting a bunch of cash, you're going

411
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to be in debt to that COUMP you know, to

412
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that you know firm, and can you get donors to

413
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pay that out? Can you get different things that way.

414
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I don't know that there's going to be some buyout, right,

415
00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:11,960
I mean, I could be wrong, But at the same time,

416
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I don't know the full capacity of that, you know,

417
00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:17,440
with my limited financial understanding to know what the true

418
00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:19,960
fallout would be in this situation, especially since they are

419
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a minority order, especially since you know a majority of

420
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that is coming from from the donors. So your guess

421
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is as good as mine, you know. I wish I

422
00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:31,240
was better equipped to answer that question, but I think

423
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they feel like they've mitigated most of those risks with

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the way they've written it. But yeah, I mean, if

425
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this is a situation where you have to turn to

426
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tax dollars and everything else, yeah, that's that's a big disaster,

427
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and that's a that's a huge risk that now opens

428
00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:47,200
the university up too much further scrutiny.

429
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Speaker 1: What's the overall vibe right now with the football program,

430
00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:54,359
with this deal getting done, going to a bowl game

431
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in Vegas and having a what I want to say

432
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it was a top forty or forty five class in

433
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college football in the colleg football recruiting world, what's the

434
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vibe right now?

435
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think it's positive. I think the

436
00:20:07,839 --> 00:20:11,160
fact that you can bring back your two quarterbacks and

437
00:20:11,519 --> 00:20:14,559
have them paired together, bringing back a core of the players,

438
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or at least that's what we seek right now. I

439
00:20:17,319 --> 00:20:19,960
think there's a positive vibe that Utah can continue this

440
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:23,559
trajectory moving forward to the next year. Their recruiting class,

441
00:20:23,599 --> 00:20:25,240
they didn't need to go heavy because they have a

442
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lot of freshmen that contributed this year, or at least

443
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younger players, and so it's really just kind of capitalizing

444
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on what they did this year and trying to move

445
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forward for next year. So, you know, I'm really fascinated

446
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:38,200
to see if there's any Bowl opt outs. I would

447
00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:41,279
assume there's at least one, considering Spencer Finals of a

448
00:20:41,319 --> 00:20:45,640
first round pick potentially, you know, I have to believe

449
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that at least the core of this team will play

450
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together and play in Vegas and try to use that

451
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as another jumping off point to next year. But that

452
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remains to be seen. So I think overall the general

453
00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:58,759
vibe is good. We're still waiting to hear on Kyle

454
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Whittingham and his future, so I think that that has

455
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some you know, it kind of limits exactly what the

456
00:21:06,599 --> 00:21:09,160
full vibe can be. But I think there's still positivity

457
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going into next year.

458
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Speaker 1: Josh for a long ladies and gentlemen, best way to

459
00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:16,079
support you what you do, how you do it, Josh

460
00:21:16,079 --> 00:21:17,000
For all of our listeners.

461
00:21:18,279 --> 00:21:20,039
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can just go to KSL dot com read

462
00:21:20,119 --> 00:21:23,480
my stuff there, or you can come visit my Twitter

463
00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:26,319
feed Jfer KSL chat with me that way, you know,

464
00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:28,720
have a podcast, all those kinds of things. So any

465
00:21:28,759 --> 00:21:31,440
and I'll appreciate it, but I appreciate being able to

466
00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:32,839
come on your show and be able to talk about

467
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these things.

468
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a new wave, man.

469
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Speaker 1: I think it's incredible that Utah was the first to

470
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jump into it. It's something that everyone's been very flirtatious about.

471
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It's kind of taking hold of the new cycle in

472
00:21:44,799 --> 00:21:47,559
the off seasons, whether it's conference commissioners or.

473
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Speaker 2: Athletic depormas eights discussing it.

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Speaker 1: But Utah finding a way to be the first to

475
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jump into it. Can't wait to watch out all it

476
00:21:56,839 --> 00:21:58,960
all turns out. I'm sure we're gonna learn more about

477
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:01,240
it in the day and weeks. Agom, is there any

478
00:22:01,559 --> 00:22:03,680
do you think there's any chance at the state legislature

479
00:22:04,039 --> 00:22:06,640
sometime somehow tries to put a kibosh on this.

480
00:22:08,319 --> 00:22:09,920
Speaker 3: I mean, I know there was you know, I can't

481
00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:13,400
remember blanking on the legislator's name who kind of not

482
00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:17,599
really upset on X about this. But my understanding is

483
00:22:17,599 --> 00:22:21,319
is that UTAH has worked and with the legislature or

484
00:22:21,359 --> 00:22:24,839
at least interested members of the party to be able

485
00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:28,400
to have an understanding of what this is. So like, sure,

486
00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:30,559
there's always a chance that the legislature can come in

487
00:22:30,599 --> 00:22:33,519
and kind of usurp their power, but I think they've

488
00:22:33,559 --> 00:22:37,119
had enough conversations going along. They're not doing this blindly, right, Like,

489
00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:39,559
you're not going this far along signing private equity, doing

490
00:22:39,599 --> 00:22:41,920
all these things without talking the NCAA, without talking to

491
00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:45,839
the legislature, the governor those types of things. So, you know,

492
00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:48,720
I think everything is kosher, Everything is okay. It's just

493
00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:50,440
a matter of kind of finalizing everything.

494
00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:53,799
Speaker 2: Can't wait to see what happens. Josh.

495
00:22:53,839 --> 00:22:57,079
Speaker 1: Appreciate your brother great inside. As always, we'd invite everyone

496
00:22:57,079 --> 00:22:59,200
to follow you on X and check out your podcast

497
00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:01,599
as well as read all your content atksel dot com.

498
00:23:01,599 --> 00:23:05,759
Speaker 2: Thanks so much, Josh, Thanks, I appreciate it all right.

499
00:23:05,759 --> 00:23:06,519
There you have it, Josh.

500
00:23:06,519 --> 00:23:09,440
Speaker 1: For long, Ladies and gentlemen, and that segment was brought

501
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to you by Dental Pros of Utah. Dental Pros of

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breeze to keep your house clean. Uh, contact Gabby right now. Guys,

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if you're looking to get your house clean, get it dull,

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prim and proper.

506
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Speaker 2: You all.

507
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Speaker 1: You know, a house of order, a house of prayer.

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You gotta keep it clean. They'll keep it organized, all right,

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check it out. Bresa makes it a breeze to keep

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your house clean. Caull Gabby right now. Eight oh one

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three eight zero eight zero eight seven. That's eight o

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one three eight zero eight zero eight seven eight oh

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one three eight zero eight zero eight seven. Bresa Cleaning Services. Also,

514
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I know you guys love movies. I like movies, You

515
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like movies. You all love movies. Avatar, Fire and Ash. Okay,

516
00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:51,279
they were giving away a four pack of tickets. It's

517
00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:53,599
right every single morning on the Bryson bian Nucci Show

518
00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:56,240
eight twenty am. You can tune in for your chance

519
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to win a four pack of tickets to an advanced

520
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screening of Avatar, Fire and Ash at the Jordan Commons

521
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Megaplex on Tuesday December sixteenth.

522
00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:06,200
Speaker 2: That's right, Tuesday, December sixteenth.

523
00:24:06,319 --> 00:24:08,440
Speaker 1: Tune in eight twenty am for your chance to win

524
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a four pack of tickets to an advanced screening of Avatar.

525
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Speaker 2: Fire and Ash. Will take a time out, we'll be back.

526
00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:16,720
Don't go anywhere.

527
00:24:16,759 --> 00:24:18,640
Speaker 1: This is Cougar Sports, one of three nine ninety eight

528
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point three e