AAC Commissioner Tim Pernetti says "nothing is off the table" if change is needed

American Athletic Conference Commissioner Tim Pernetti made one thing abundantly clear Tuesday morning at the AAC’s football media day in Fort Worth: The conference is not afraid of the potentially seismic change coming to college athletics.

“My favorite line: nothing is off the table. It can’t be for us,” he said during an address to the media. “We’ll continue to cast the net wide.”

How wide?

“We’re investing in new relationships, strategic partnerships, we’re going to build for our member institutions. We’re going to build value for all of them,” he said.

“We’ll meet with prospective commercial and investment partners, conference naming rights, jersey patches with revenue flowing directly to student-athletes, (and) private capital. We will continue to explore what’s possible.”

Given the volatile conditions disrupting the traditional business model that governed NCAA sports for decades, it's impossible to say for certain what is possible. But Pernetti said he is willing to discuss anything and has done just that since he was named last December to follow founding AAC commissioner Mike Aresco, who retired.

“Collegiate athletics is in the midst of transformative change,” he said. “You might call it chaos. But it’s exciting. Transformation leads to change, and change leads to opportunity. Opportunity needs investment.

“We’ve been talking a lot about private equity, private capital included, wanting to be involved in our space. Do you know why? They love business opportunities with massive and growing affinity and tremendous upside that maybe have been slow to adapt. They see what we know. Collegiate athletics has failed to modernize the enterprise until it was faced with a crisis.”

That crisis includes a $2.8 billion settlement the NCAA reached in May with former college athletes. It came after an antitrust suit over compensation they claimed the NCAA had denied them for decades. The ramifications of that settlement represented a foundation-shaking earthquake to college athletics.

“This settlement is about much more than money. There are transformative matters at stake: Title IX, roster limits, sports sponsorship. We need to remember that the decisions made will affect the whole enterprise, not just the top one percent. This is why we have to work together to ensure every conference has a voice in this,” Pernetti said.

“Let’s not spend a minute lamenting the state of college athletics. We’ve arrived where we have arrived. Let’s look through the windshield and not through the rearview mirror. If collegiate athletics was in such bad shape, do you really think we would be experiencing this accelerated growth and outside entities would want to invest with us?”

The conferences and programs that adjust to the new reality will thrive.

“What does a crisis mean? Legislators having to pen bills to make us change. A potential $20 billion lawsuit targeted at a handful of conferences and the NCAA. Our conference is not named in that lawsuit. Everyone has played a role in the failure to modernize in the past and create fairness for student-athletes.

“Here’s the good news. We’re on the cusp of settling that lawsuit. It will be the largest in collegiate athletics history, and this is a lawsuit that will completely change the way we govern and the way we do business.”