That's a pretty huge entity and likely wants "alternative" investments, so this would make sense to me if I was on the investment cmmtte. $190B assets, its basically the investment arm of the U of Cal system endowment (if I understand right).
I assume they'd be pretty hands-off in terms of management, which wouldn't be terrible. But they are probably going to want 10% ROI, I would think. They can get 4.5% on 20 or 30 year bonds, this is probably a similar time horizon, and not risk free. Maybe they are OK getting only 2-3% over the risk free rate, but idk.
For the conference, this would be cheaper than PE, who is likely to want a higher return. PE's don't have unlimited money to invest and want the best return.
I still think if any conference wanted money that bad, a 30 year bond offer at 10% would be better than giving up eternal equity at 8%.
One thing though, this is directly tied to UCLA (and Cal for that matter) - its basically the U of Cal system endowment investment group. So you have an entity that directly serves one of your conference members, and you are selling them off a chunk of your media revenue. It'd be like the Big12 selling off a 25% of the future tv money to Cody Campbell for $1B. Is that a good idea?
If it is, then the ACC needs to get Stanford's endowment folks on the line yesterday. Maybe the Big12 can talk to all their collective endowments, and sell shares in the tv money in exchange for cash now, JG Wentworth style. At least you get the money from a related party, and likely more favorable terms. The universities can't throw in cash, but the endowments can... But you still gotta pay it back.
