New BBOC Episode: American Conference Commissioner Tim Pernetti

New BBOC Episode: American Conference Commissioner Tim Pernetti

On the latest episode of JohnWallStreet Presents: Big Business on Campus, a college sports podcast powered by Playfly Sports and sponsored by Short’s Sports Travel Logistics, JohnWallStreet Founder Corey Leff and Playfly Sports Chairman Michael Schreiber sit down with American Conference Commissioner Tim Pernetti.

In this 40-minute conversation, we touch on:

Rebranding the Conference

The American’s refresh was more than just a cosmetic makeover. It ties revenue and identity together and turns conference storytelling into a sellable assets. 

“We turned Soar the Eagle on. [The mascot is] new intellectual property that we will take to the market and commercialize,” Pernetti said. “Literally, in everything we’re doing, from challenge coins to [Soar] having its own social media handles, [is so] we have new IP in the marketplace to monetize.”

The Launch of American Rise Ventures

The conference’s new commercial division positions it to unlock revenue generating opportunities, attract private capital, and expand opportunities across member institutions.

“The goal was to have the conference control all its commercial IP and rights…get it all in the building, set a strategy, hire the right people, and then find the right outside partners to optimize,” Pernetti said. The belief is by taking that approach it “can find significant upside that we don’t currently have on the books, and that will give us more appeal as we bring capital in to accelerate our growth agenda.”

Expanding the College Sports Pie

The next major value lever in college sports could come from strategically unifying rights across leagues. It’s a vision for collaboration over competition and a roadmap for increasing revenues across the landscape.

“If we really want to get serious about how we grow the enterprise, the only way you expand the pie is if you aggregate rights in a meaningful way—whether it’s media, data, IP, or even licensing. That’s the next frontier,” Pernetti said.

📺 Watch the full video on JohnWallStreet’s YouTube Page.
🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

We’ll be back with the next episode of JohnWallStreet Presents: Big Business on Campus next week. University of Pittsburgh Director of Athletics Allen Greene will be our guest.

Wake Forest University Vice President & Director of Athletics John Currie will follow. 

In the meantime, make sure to check out our sponsor, Short’s Sport Travel Logistics—the fastest-growing company in collegiate athletics travel, and the trusted choice of over 108 athletic departments nationwide. Short’s simplifies every aspect of team travel (think: air charters, commercial flights, buses, and hotels) and helps to turn complex logistics into a competitive advantage.

If you missed the first four episodes of BBOC, with Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman, University of Arizona AD Desiree Reed-Francois, Baylor Athletics’ Mack Rhoades & Jovan Overshown, and Maryland AD Jim Smith, video versions of those podcasts can be found on JohnWallStreet’s YouTube channel.

Thanks for listening. Let us know what you think. We welcome the feedback.