Utah sold its soul for private equity. The layoffs were always coming

No matter the moves in Utah’s half a billion private equity deal, they’re seen through lens of green and greed.

June 1, 2026, 5:10 a.m. ET

This is what happens when you make a deal with the private equity devil, when panic supersedes sensibility and all that’s left is an all users email and a skillfully-worded statement from a public relations hack trying to put out a fire.

Gee, who could’ve seen this coming?

A public university, desperate to stay relevant in an ever-changing college sports landscape, sells its soul for private equity cash. And now here come the layoffs.

My shocked face.

Utah needed money, Otro Capital offered a mirage of an oasis to a parched program, and the next thing you know, the university is $500 million to the good — and still firing employees.

Check me if I’m wrong, Sparky, but half a billion seems like enough cash to keep everyone employed.

In an email sent to athletic department employees and obtained by the Salt Lake Tribune, Utah athletic director Mark Harlan described the firings as — are you ready for this? — “impacted employees” of an “unsettling process” during their “transition.”

Then came the official response from an athletic department spokesperson, and it wasn’t much better.

“In preparation for the growth of Crimson Brand Partners, the university has begun the process of transitioning select units of some university operations to the new company. The first step of that process requires the discontinuation of the individual positions in those units through a reduction in force (RIF), to be followed by CBP’s hiring process.”

I’m gonna puke.

This is the problem with inviting the private equity wolf through the door: No matter what moves are made, it’s seen through the lens of green and greed.

The university will retain a majority ownership of CBP (estimated at 66%) commercial operations, including but not limited to ticketing, licensing, NIL sales and sponsorships. Otro gets an estimated 33%.

The only way this thing works is if — and it’s big IF — Utah makes a boatload of cash in a college sports environment currently drowning in the deep end of inflation. A college landscape, mind you, that changes by the month and is wildly unstable.

This week, the Saving College Sports bill will begin to work its way through Congress — a journey so wrought with political pitfalls, it will be a minor miracle if tribal caucuses in both the House and Senate pass it and send the bill to President Trump to sign into law.

But understand this: The SEC and Big Ten aren’t required to sign off on the critical monetary addendum of the bill. The two super conferences — who earn nearly double (or more) in media rights fees than the rest of the FBS conferences — aren’t required to pool media rights with the other conferences, per the bill.

Pooled media rights — going to the market as one entity instead of 10 different entities and potentially earning more money collectively — is the very thing that could allegedly save programs currently dying on the vine. Or those desperate enough to invite the private equity wolf through the door.

But it takes all 10 FBS conferences (including the SEC and Big Ten) to earn a projected significant spike in media rights fees, and the SEC said last week it will keep its individual deal. The Big Ten is expected to the do the same.

A more dangerous scenario for Utah: The bill doesn’t pass, and the SEC and Big Ten are emboldened and break away as a collective unit to avoid the next bill(s) trying to prevent further conference expansion and a Big Ten/SEC breakaway (which the current bill stipulates).

If the Big Ten and SEC break away, Utah’s ability to generate revenue could take a significant hit — with Otro still owning 33% of the company.

Imagine that email from Harlan, or whoever is running the joint.

“We’re now in the process of transitioning from hoping and praying this thing would work, to getting our financial tail handed to us. Please bear with us through these unsettling transitory times impacting the reduction of force of our fellow select units.”

Or some other cock and bull story.

The Salt Lake Tribune said a select number of employees expected to be fired and potentially rehired by CBP is currently unknown, and the university spokesperson would not share a number.

This, of course, leads to the obvious question: What is the “select number” to be “potentially” rehired? If any at all?

This is a private equity tale as old as time, people. Cash comes in, the employee herd is thinned, and money is all that matters. These people aren’t your friends, and aren’t focused on winning championships.

They’re in it as an investment. If winning a championship leads to more money, great. Either way, they’re getting their 33%.

And if it’s not the 33% they envisioned, you can bet your bottom dollar there will be more “transitory” moves and “unsettling” processes until it is.

Source: Utah News