K-State Joins Growing List of Big 12 Teams to Turn Down Private Capital Line of Credit

The Big 12 had offered all the schools $30 million line of credit, but thus far, none of the schools in the conference have accepted it.

Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor talks to press about new head football coach Collin Klein in Morgan Family Arena on Dec. 5, 2025. | Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In today's college football landscape, schools and conferences are looking for ways to maneuver to save and earn money to build a team capable of competing. Recently, the Big 12 offered all of the members in the conference a $30 million as part of a private capital deal with the league.

This would give schools a much-needed boost to potentially help with everything going on in college sports. While this was seen as an opportunity to help the schools in the conference, K-State became the latest school in the Big 12 to turn down the deal. With that decision, there have now been 10 teams to turn down the deal, with there yet to be one school from the conference to take the deal.

A reason why the schools may not be taking the deal is that there is an interest rate on the line of credit that is nearly 10 percent. With the decision, K-State joins Baylor, BYU, Cincinnati, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State, TCU, UCF, Utah, and West Virginia as the schools in the conference to turn down the offer.

Telling sign that all of these schools are turning this deal down

In today's college sports, schools are having major concerns and issues when it comes to finances and paying the players. Colleges across the country have started to get rid of some sports on campus, with Wichita State announcing recently that it would be eliminating the golf programs at the school. Institutions are looking at all options to bring in money, and the fact that not one school has jumped at this opportunity shows it might not be worth it.

The option comes from the league's partnership with RedBird Capital and Weatherford Capital, which are firms based in New York and Florida, respectively. The league office is receiving $12.5 million for its partnership. Partnering with these groups is also a move that the Big 12 could be making for the future, as these companies could help in a big way when it comes to the always changing media rights battles.

While the first 10 schools in the conference have all said no to the deal, that doesn't mean that one the remaining ones won't take the chance. This could be a play by the schools where they don't want to be the first one to take the deal, but it could lead to a few schools accepting the line of credit if one does. For now, none of the Big 12 schools have taken that leap and will look to continue going through other avenues to help set themselves up financially.