AAC Creates New Division with NIL Focus as Tulane Prepares for Rev Share

The American conference is launching a new entity that will generate competitive revenue for Tulane football and other AAC schools.

Credit: Parker Waters - Tulane Athletics

While the House v. NCAA settlement is expected to usher in the revenue-sharing era of college football on July 1, barring any setbacks, the American Athletic Conference is proactively investing in commercial growth.

As the Tulane Green Wave football team prepares for that future, the AAC is in good hands under commissioner Tim Pernetti.

The AAC launched a new business division called American RISE Ventures, which will consolidate all commercial business interests into one entity, as Pernetti told Ben Portnoy of Sports Business Journal.

The vertical already has a Chief Commercial Officer in place, Bryan Calka, who has impressive experience in similarly positioned roles with the New York Yankees, New York Islanders, Barclays Center, and the Professional Fighters League.

The expected settlement approval date influences the timing of the new division, as schools will begin directly compensating athletes. For Tulane football and other conference members, that will require them to put at least $10 million total toward revenue sharing with athletes by 2027-28.

What Will RISE Do for AAC Schools in the NIL and Rev Share Era?

RISE, standing for Revenue, Innovation, Sports, and Entertainment, may set a blueprint, as Yahoo! Sports' Ross Dellenger reports conferences' intent to explore similar ventures.

In the AAC press release, the vertical intends to "lead all aspects of the league’s revenue generation, sponsorship strategy, media rights, brand partnerships, technology, emerging business ventures, and long-term commercial innovation across the conference.”

Pernetti divulged the strategy for generating revenue and exploring sponsorships and partners.

“Bringing all the commercial business together in one division gives us the ability to scale things across the conference more effectively,” Pernetti said to SBJ. ”Whether that’s conference naming rights, playing surfaces, jersey patches, or any of those things, it gives us the ability to create more value for the sum of the parts."

The immediate creation of this venture satisfies that short-term goal. In the long term, it signifies a path to work with private equity partners in college sports.

“Private capital investment in and around college sports is being discussed more than it ever has been, and there are a lot of conferences out there in the midst of processes right now,” Pernetti said to SBJ. “But private capital partners are looking to make bets on future commercial growth, media rights, and all the commercial stuff. ... We think [creating American RISE Ventures] makes sense for all those reasons.”

Pernetti has been an innovator since taking over as commissioner, as he was the first to implement a league minimum standard for revenue sharing among other initiatives.

What's intriguing is Pernetti's commentary on the value of a single seller versus every conference paving their own ways.

“I’m hopeful in the future that the industry wakes up to the idea that bringing assets to market, including media rights, as a single seller drives so much more selling potential than everybody being out there on their own,” Pernetti said in the SBJ article. “Imagine a world where a college football was being taken to the market by a single seller. The value of that would be dramatically greater than what everybody is realizing currently.”

That aligns with the consolidation of schools into these massive Power conferences during realignment, as they have realized that power in numbers is most valuable.

Whatever that future may be, it's a strong move that signals the AAC's status as top Group of Five contenders.

None of the other G5 leagues have made as many proactive and strategic moves as Pernetti has in preparation for revenue sharing.

As talks surround the Green Wave and the Pac-12, the American is firmly positioning itself as the most attractive G5 conference.