California university pension attempting to buy stake in Big Ten college sports conference

University of California

is trying to acquire a 10 percent stake in the Big Ten Conference, one of the most successful franchises in intercollegiate sports, famous for the Rose Bowl and a multi-year television deal with Fox.

“We just made an offer to buy 10 percent of the Big Ten, a major sports conference in the United States,” Jagdeep Singh Baher, chief investment officer and vice-president of investments at the University of California, where he oversees an investment portfolio worth about $180 billion, said at a conference in Toronto on Monday.

“I hope that this will happen by… November 21,” added Baccher, who is also chancellor of the University of Waterloo and spoke at a conference hosted by the Canadian university.

His comments appeared to confirm a story published by Yahoo Sports on Oct. 10, which cited unnamed sources as saying talks were underway to invest about $2.4 billion in the conference's 18 schools and help create a long-discussed subsidiary called Big Ten Enterprises. Private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Blackstone are also involved in the sports franchise, the report said.

Another report published by frontofficesports.com states:

the proposed deal with UC Investments would require the assets to be transferred to a private fund called Big Ten Enterprises, in which the investment group would take a 10 percent stake. That report said the proposed deal, which would require schools to sign a rights agreement binding the conference until 2046, has sparked controversy among some university board members.

Bakcher, who declined to elaborate on UC Investments' proposal after his speech, told the Toronto audience that he views sports as an investment in “cultural capital” rather than simply venture capital or private equity investments.

“I think the future of our younger generation is the one thing that connects people to technology and content: sports,” he said, citing recent excitement over

Toronto Blue Jays

made it to the World Series despite losing in seven games to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“It creates a whole unique set of opportunities: esports, media, entertainment, technology. I actually call it cultural capital, not even venture capital or private equity,” he said. “There are incredible opportunities out there. So that's where I just immersed myself in this whole area. It was a lot of fun.”

At the conference, Bacher shared the stage with Orlando Bravo, founder and managing partner of Thoma Bravo, a private equity and investment fund specializing in software.

As their discussion came to an end, Bravo asked Bacher what he is interested in and what he is currently investing in. The latter responded that he had spent the last 100 days “totally…absorbed around the clock” in the sport.

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