Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens Fires Off Letter to Commmissioner Opposing Big 10 Private Equity Deal

Michigan Democratic U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens fired off a letter Tuesday to Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti warning against a proposed plan that calls for the conference to sell a 10 percent stake in its media rights to UC Investments for $2.4 billion.

Stevens insists the deal would put corporate profits ahead of student-athletes, college sports, and university integrity.

"Such an agreement would be a dangerous expansion of private equity influence over our nation’s universities, harming the quality of college sports and the integrity of university governance," she wrote in the letter.

"The influence of extremely wealthy, non-university interests has already created significant problems in college sports. Television networks’ quest for increasing market share of fan viewership has led to nonsensical conference realignment that destroyed the regional nature of college sports cherished by generations of fans."

She goes on to write that she fears the deal would prompt other college conferences to follow suit.

"These race-to-the-bottom deals in search of more athletics media revenue will inevitably create future conference realignment, further undermining regional cohesion in college sports. There are already reports that legacy Big Ten member universities opposed to the deal are considering leaving the conference if it is adopted, further contributing to the revolving door of conference realignment."

The Big Ten did not immediately respond Tuesday to an email for comment.