New Episode of BBOC: Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez
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 Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez for a discussion on new revenue streams, roster churn, and private capital.
In this 40-minute conversation, we touch on:
Reimaging Headquarters as a Monetizable Asset
The Mountain West is moving from Fort Collins, CO to Las Vegas, NV in July. The conference is planning to turn its new state-of-the-art facility into a revenue-generating asset.
“We’re building a replay center and we have to recreate our studio and production capabilities…Everybody [in LV] needs production services. So, why not build [our facilities] at scale?…Come in and use our green screen and professional studios if you need to create content or shoulder programming,” Nevarez said. “We're [also going to have] a technologically sound teleconference meeting space that [can] be rented out and used for people right by the airport coming through town.”
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The Fight for Relevance
The Mountain West has identified two issues that must be addressed at a governance level for its schools to remain competitive: continued access to the CFP and mitigating unchecked roster turnover.
“It’s the transfer portal that really we need to get our arms around,” Nevarez said. "Because right now, one of the biggest storylines under the NCAA has been [declining] grad rates. When [kids] transfer, grad rates tend to go down…But [we] also [need to] enable some kind of policy that allows coaches to [maintain] a roster. The losing of players mid-season or before postseason, that is just not sustainable. And by the way, [our conference is] the place that most of the Power Four go shopping.”
Balancing Private Capital and Institutional Control
Nevarez sees a place for private capital in college sports. But any deal would have to enable her conference to maintain its core student-focused mandates.
“We don't want to give up control of how we run the conference because we have some very non-business purposes and missions that don't contribute to a financial ROI,” Nevarez said. “However, if you can silo [revenue generating assets like the] production company, esports, data —and this is not new thinking, the Pac-12 was thinking about this long [ago]— and then bring in private equity to [not only] help seed the venture, but also the expertise they bring, [that could work]. We have 25 FTEs and don't really have that type of expertise to build and execute new companies, but certainly a private equity partner could.”
📺 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 in two weeks. Pac-12 Conference Commissioner Teresa Gould will be our guest.
In the meantime, make sure to check out our sponsor, Short’s Sports 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.
Previous episodes of BBOC, including sit-downs with Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman, Arizona AD Desiree Reed-Francois, Maryland AD Jim Smith, American Commissioner Tim Pernetti, Pittsburgh AD Allen Greene, Wake Forest AD John Currie, Kansas AD Travis Goff, Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris, Big Sky Conference Commissioner Tom Wistrcill, SMU AD Damon Evans, Ohio State AD Ross Bjork, West Virginia President Michael Benson, and Weatherford Capital Founding Partner Drew Weatherford, IMG Academy CEO Brent Richard and USA Fencing CEO Phil Andrews on the Enrollment Cliff can be found on JohnWallStreet’s YouTube channel.
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