Big 12 in Advanced Talks for Deal With RedBird-Backed Fund

Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark during the Big 12 Championship game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the BYU Cougars in Arlington, Texas. 

Photographer: John E. Moore III/Getty Images 

The Big 12 Conference is in advanced talks with an investment firm backed by RedBird Capital and Weatherford Capital for a $500 million cash injection, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The deal, via Collegiate Athletic SolutionsBloomberg Terminal, known as CAS, follows failed talks earlier in the year for a direct investment into the Big 12, and would mark the first major conference-wide capital deal in major US college sports.