Corporation aims to boost MSU sports revenue. Should it operate in secret?

MSU is among the few colleges in the nation that have created a fund to increase revenue for sports — in an era where athletes are landing big name, image and likeness deals
Spartan Ventures launched this month in spite of some MSU leaders’ concerns about transparency
Of most concern is a for-profit arm, Spartan Media Ventures, which aims to increase funding for athletes but also for investors

Spartan Ventures, an ambitious effort to increase revenue for Michigan State University’s sports program, got underway this month, buoyed by a $100 million infusion from a pair of private investors. But its debut comes amid an ongoing rift over transparency about how it will operate and who will benefit most.

MSU formed the nonprofit to separate fundraising and revenue-generating activities from the athletic department and to create new revenue streams for student athletes as college athletic programs cost more than ever.

At issue is a for-profit arm of Spartan Ventures, called Spartan Media Ventures, whose goal is to generate money to “modernize and scale (MSU’s) approach to athletics program funding.” It could also generate profits for its investors, Michigan philanthropists Greg and Dawn Williams, and any future investors.

The athletic department has traditionally generated revenue from ticket sales, sponsorships and televised games, one of its largest sources of revenue. But a recent US Supreme Court decision cleared the way for college athletes to be compensated for commercial use of their name, image and likeness (NIL) — ushering in a new era where it can cost tens of millions of dollars to assemble an intercollegiate team of highly-paid athletes who play in nationally televised championship games, generating more revenue.

Under NCAA rules, universities like MSU can share just over $20 million of their revenue annually with student athletes. Those athletes can also secure third-party NIL deals.

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Some MSU trustees have called for more transparency about the for-profit corporation that’s working to increase revenue for the athletic program. After the board signed off on the endeavor last year, some regents began airing their frustrations about Spartan Media Ventures publicly. The public dispute was one of the factors that caused MSU president Kevin Guskiewicz to resign in May, saying “too much energy has been spent revisiting past conflicts and internal disagreements rather than focusing collectively on the opportunities and aspirations ahead of us.” He reversed his decision to take the president’s job at Clemson University earlier this month and said he would remain at MSU.

Trustees Mike Balow, Dennis Denno and Rema Vassar, say raising questions after decisions were made is a way of exercising their fiduciary responsibility publicly — since, according to them, they were not provided necessary documents on the formation of Spartan Media Ventures. They contend that many discussions were held behind closed doors without the public hearing what’s at stake with Spartan Media Ventures — the private corporation created with the $100 million investment, and an ownership stake that could generate profits for the investors.

Numerous questions remain as the private venture unfolds: How many other investments have been made in the corporation since it launched and by whom? How much of the investments is being used to pay and recruit athletes? How will the rest of the funding be used? What’s the rate of return for investors?

Board Chair Brianna Scott and Vice Chair Renee Knake-Jefferson have not responded to phone calls and emails from Bridge Michigan seeking comment. Other trustees either could not be reached or declined comment. MSU spokespeople also declined to answer questions. Spartan Ventures spokesman Matt Larson offered a possible interview at a later date then directed Bridge to MSU’s announcement of Spartan ventures’ launch on July 1.

It noted that Spartan Ventures’ accountability includes, “well-thought-out guidelines, policies and reporting structures in place” along with a seven-person board which includes the MSU president, board chair and athletic director.

“Spartan Media Ventures is a for-profit corporation built to enhance the brand of MSU Athletics and facilitate capital investment by friends of the program,” the announcement says. “It is structured to leverage and monetize future media rights revenue, sponsorship inventory and branding opportunities. Furthermore, there are guardrails in place to ensure that Michigan State will never lose control of department operations.”

In an opinion piece published in May, Balow and Denno said that, “individual board members cannot be denied their ability and duty to conduct proper oversight.”

“While we support our MSU leadership team,” the trustees said, “trust alone is no way to conduct oversight at a major university with a multibillion-dollar budget that in so many ways affects the lives of millions of Michiganians.”

Steve Delie, a senior attorney with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, who’s director of transparency and open government, has lightly followed Spartan Ventures issues. But he said a basic expectation of good governance is transparency.

“The purpose of our transparency laws is to allow people to understand the inner workings of government,” Delie said. “If you don’t understand, it’s hard to make an informed opinion about what it’s doing is good or bad.”

Dawn of the NIL era

The changing landscape of college sports leading to Spartan Media Ventures began five years ago after a long history by the National Collegiate Athletic Association prohibiting compensation of college athletes.

Legal challenges led to a 2021 US Supreme Court decision, prompting the NCAA to adopt an NIL policy and suspend rules prohibiting student athletes from earning money for activities such as appearing in commercials, promoting a brand on social media or signing autographs.

It’s unclear how much college athletes have earned since then, because their NIL deals have been confidential. But some have become public. University of Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood reportedly landed an NIL deal worth $12.5 million when he committed to U-M in November 2024. Analyses of other NIL deals have been estimated to range in the millions of dollars.

Meanwhile, college officials have spoken about the costs to recruit elite players with lucrative packages. Ohio State University head football coach Ryan Day said in 2024 the football roster would receive “around $20 million” in NIL money. Months later, Ohio State won the College Football Playoffs National Championship.

Around that time, in August 2024, South Carolina’s Clemson University announced Clemson Ventures, a private-sector business structure with marketing and NIL capabilities, to drive revenue in the reshaped college athletics landscape. It was hailed as the “first-of-its-kind setup in college sports.”

Clemson has begun working to create more revenue by turning its sport stadium into a concert venue, offering a premium tailgating experience and more.

Guskiewicz — who became MSU president in 2024 — was planning to become president at Clemson University until five days after Spartan Ventures launched.

Other similar entities in college athletic departments include University of Kentucky’s Champions Blue and West Virginia University’s Gold & Blue Enterprises.

In 2025, another set of legal challenges led to a settlement that allowed colleges to share a portion of their revenue with athletes, up to 22% of the “average shared revenue” generated by NCAA conference division’s member institutions. During the 2026-27, the cap meant that colleges could distribute among its players $21.3 million to players in addition to any scholarship money or NIL income that a student athlete receives.

Spartan Ventures aligns with MSU athletic’s commercial operations and will work with the flexibility of a private corporation supporting university athletics and student athletes, MSU says. Unlike other college athletic departments that have had to scale back on staffing, launching Spartan Ventures has added 46 jobs.

It includes Spartan Media Ventures and the Spartan Athletic Foundation, a nonprofit corporation that will continue focusing on fundraising for MSU athletics along with opportunities for donors.

“As college athletics evolves, it places incredible pressure on the need for increased revenue and the amount required to build championship programs,” the announcement said. “As the landscape becomes more commercial, it rewards athletic departments who adapt accordingly.”

MSU portrayed Spartan Ventures as a way of being a leader amid change in athletics since the university is among the first to “implement this innovative structure.” But MSU is likely not the last.

“This,” MSU said, “is the future of college athletics.”

Board empowers Guskiewicz

In October, MSU trustees were asked to approve Guskiewicz to enter into an affiliation with Spartan Ventures. At the time, university officials portrayed Spartan Ventures as a nonprofit entity to get in the game of generating more revenue. MSU trustees unanimously approved the effort.

Less than two months later, MSU announced the historic $401 million commitment for Spartan Athletics by the Williamses, calling it the largest commitment in MSU’s history and one of the largest in sports history. Set aside in the commitment was $100 million earmarked for “an entity to be formed by the affiliated organization Spartan Ventures.”

At its December board meeting, MSU trustees were not asked to approve an affiliated organization formed by Spartan Ventures. Instead, they were asked to authorize Guskiewicz to enter into “brand management agreement with Spartan Ventures” as he saw best for the university. Trustees Balow, Denno and Vassar voted no because not enough information was available to make that decision.

All declined comment due to a recent ethics policy approved by the MSU board as Guskiewicz’s departure loomed.

During the December meeting, Balow, among the most vocal in asking for information, called Spartan Ventures a “watershed moment in our athletics history.” But Spartan Media Ventures, he added, is a “different animal.” It came before the board only a few weeks earlier and without the board seeing documents. He wanted to vote on the creation of Spartan Media Ventures after a comprehensive review of the documents.

“Let’s just make sure we do this the right way,” Balow said.

The remaining five trustees, including Trustee Sandy Pierce, approved authorizing the MSU president to enter into a brand management agreement with Spartan Ventures.

“I choose to put my trust in President Guskiewicz …” said Pierce, a finance professional with more than four decades of experience. “I’m bringing, what I believe, will be game-changing in higher education.”

Denno said he trusted Guskiewicz and then-Athletic Director J Batt.

“It’s also our responsibility to trust but verify,” Denno said.

Demand for documents

In February, MSU asked trustees to sign a nondisclosure agreement to see the bulk of the core documents as it relates to Spartan Media Ventures.

It’s unclear who signed the NDA, which outlines a $250,000 fine if information was leaked, along with other penalties. Balow has said publicly that he didn’t sign because the board is supposed to provide general financial oversight but not under a nondisclosure agreement. Denno also said he didn’t sign the NDA.

Balow and Denno penned an editorial in the Detroit News in May that said trustees were not provided all the legal documentation to examine the $100 million investment in Spartan Ventures “which will further dilute MSU’s ownership of the athletics department revenue stream, which will exceed $200 million annually.”

During a May podcast, Balow said that the large amount of dollars flowing into university athletic departments has created “an arms race” for college presidents and athletic directors, to get as much money to get the best players, help them with NIL deals so ultimately universities can create championship sports teams.

The response from MSU, he said, was to create the venture that privatizes a portion of MSU’s athletic revenue stream that the university did not fully brief trustees on. Instead it presented the trustees with a verbal explanation but not all the terms and conditions.

“We should have been able to say, ‘Mr. President, we need you to get us some sort of veto power over certain class of investors that we would not want as partners, one of those being a gaming interest, one of those perhaps being an investor group from a foreign country that’s adversarial to the United States,” Balow said during the podcast.

““We, as trustees, need to make sure we’re not accepting undue risk for the university.”

During the same podcast, Denno called the creation of Spartan Media Ventures as “selling off a portion of our athletic department.” .

“When it comes to financial issues, how can trustees not have a vote on that?” Denno added.

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