The nonprofit developed to raise money for Michigan State University’s athletic department is still on track to launch July 1, the university said in a Monday letter, despite the two leaders behind it saying they both are leaving for other universities.
President Kevin Guskiewicz and Athletic Director J Batt developed Spartan Ventures as an innovative response to changes in college athletics that require universities to have large cash reserves to attract and retain the best sports players in the era of Name, Image and Likeness payments. The nonprofit’s for-profit subsidiary, Spartan Media Ventures, was started by a $100 million investment by local donors Greg and Dawn Williams.
Spartan Ventures CEO Jon Palumbo characterized Spartan Ventures as a “bold, innovative framework” that combined “private sector advantages, a revenue generation focused approach, and operational flexibility” while “maintaining alignment” with the university and the “collegiate model” in the letter.
Palumbo, a longtime colleague of Batt and chief operating officer of the university’s athletic department, said that “in light of” MSU leadership transitions, Spartan Ventures will continue and is “primed to elevate MSU Athletics to new levels.”
Along with Palumbo, the letter was signed by Spartan Ventures President and Chief Commercial Officer Jared Kozinn and President of Spartan Athletic Foundation Tim House.
The letter came hours after the University of Kentucky announced Batt as their incoming athletic director. Almost three weeks ago, Guskiewicz was unanimously approved as the next president of South Carolina’s Clemson University. Neither Batt nor Guskiewicz has set a start date for their new roles.
Spartan Ventures and Spartan Media Ventures are separate from the university, meetings of its board are not subject to the Michigan Open Meetings Act and documents involved are not subject to Freedom of Information Act requests, university officials said — despite being affiliated with a public university.
University trustees Mike Balow, R-Plymouth; Dennis Denno, D-East Lansing, and Rema Vassar, D-Detroit, urged more transparency in the process of its creation. In order to view some documents, Spartan Ventures required trustees to sign a non-disclosure agreement. The trustee pushback and other internal disagreements were partly the cause of Guskiewicz’s departure, the president said in his goodbye letter to the campus community.
Spartan Ventures is intertwined with athletics’ budget
The board’s fiscal year 2027 budget showed the nonprofit was expected to provide a $114.7 million disbursement from Spartan Ventures to the athletic department. Fundraising, ticket sales and parking will be routed through the nonprofit Spartan Athletic Fund, the budget also showed.
The university’s athletic department is in significant debt and has received loans from the university, the board’s budget showed.
Trustee Sandy Pierce, a Northville Democrat who chairs the board’s committee on budget and finance, said at a Friday board meeting that Spartan Ventures won’t just benefit the athletic department, but the entire university.
“Trust me, the advantages to us as a university, not just athletics, are enormous over time,” she said at the Benton Harbor meeting. “I am a financial expert, I will tell you as I sit here that we are so fortunate to have the innovative Spartan Ventures and Spartan Media Ventures in our house.”
satwood@detroitnews.com
Staff Writer Connor Earegood contributed.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Despite MSU leader exits, MSU athletics nonprofit launching July 1
Reporting by Sarah Atwood, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Sarah Atwood, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
