EAST LANSING — Spartan Ventures is finally here.
Last October, the Michigan State University Board of Trustees approved the creation of Spartan Ventures, a new nonprofit entity fully designed to bring in revenue for Spartan athletics.
Now, the new entity is getting ready to start. Here’s everything you need to know.
What is Spartan Ventures?
Spartan Ventures is a new private nonprofit organization developed with the sole intention of supporting MSU athletics.
The group has two subsidiaries, one nonprofit leg and one for-profit leg.
Spartan Ventures has a nonprofit Spartan Athletic Foundation, which will be responsible for fundraising, ticket sales, marketing and communications. Spartan Media Ventures is the for-profit leg, which will be used to optimize media rights sponsorships and branding opportunities.
Student-facing opportunities will continue to be housed within the athletics department.
How will Spartan Ventures make money for athletics?
In the Name, Image and Likeness era of college athletics, bringing in additional dollars to remain competitive could be crucial.
Only $20.5 million is permitted to be given to athletes through athletic department revenue sharing, but things like NIL media endorsements have no cap. Spartan Ventures would operate as an entity to help bring in additional revenue sources.
By making Spartan Ventures its own private organization, the group may have an easier time identifying investors so they won’t be subject to public records requests.
“No one would ever want to invest if they knew that they would be exposing themselves (their private information) to that risk (of public records),” Brianna Scott, chair of the MSU Board of Trustees and Spartan Ventures board member, previously told the State Journal. “And I think we’ve got to make a decision. Either we’re going to do this, we’re going to be innovative, we’re going to survive, we’re going to allow for people to have some stake in the game, or … but we’re not giving up complete control. The board has every right at some point in time to say we’re done. I think they call it a kill switch.”
Who is leading Spartan Ventures?
While the MSU Board of Trustees approved the creation of the nonprofit, it is technically its own separate entity with its own leadership team.
Spartan Ventures has a seven-person board of directors, with positions seated in January.
When it was initially seated, the board was made up of departing Athletic Director J Batt, outgoing MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz, Scott, MSU Federal Credit Union CEO April Clobes, tech entrepreneur Rick Lasch and Zeigler Auto Group President Aaron Zeigler. The board is chaired by restaurant industry veteran Phil Hickey.
After the June 12 board meeting, Scott said the way the bylaws are written for Spartan Ventures just means whoever is acting university president will hold the board seat, not Guskiewicz specifically. The rule applies for board chair and athletic director as well.
Jon Palumbo, executive deputy athletics director, was named CEO of the newly-created group earlier this year, with Jared Kozinn and Tim House accompanying him in leadership roles.
Kozinn, who was named deputy athletics director and chief revenue and marketing officer by Batt, was selected to serve as Spartan Ventures’ president and chief commercial officer. House, deputy athletics director for development and strategic initiatives, was named president of the Spartan Athletic Foundation.
Similar to Spartan Ventures, the MSU Board of Trustees approved an affiliate agreement with Spartan Media Ventures, allowing the for-profit entity to make media rights deals, for example. These deals and other endorsement partnerships are how one point guard can be paid a few million dollars, for example, even if the men’s basketball team is allotted $4-5 million of the $20.5 million total revenue share with athletes.
The Spartan Media Ventures team has a smaller group acting as oversight. Leaders will report to a representative from the Spartan Ventures board and one from the group’s investment arm.
Spartan Media Ventures got a head start after securing a $100 million investment from Greg and Dawn Williams as a part of their $401 million commitment to the university.
Why is it controversial?
Multiple MSU Board of Trustees members voiced concerns about a lack of oversight for the new entity.
In October, the board unanimously approved a resolution allowed Guskiewicz to enter into an affiliation agreement with Spartan Ventures, meaning the group could be officially affiliated with the university.
During the next regular board meeting, however, board support had faltered, as multiple trustees voiced concerns about having documents withheld from them. Three trustees − Mike Balow, R-Plymouth, Dennis Denno, D-East Lansing and Rema Vassar, D-Detroit − voted against a motion allowing Guskiewicz to enter into a strategic brand management agreement, which is necessary for allowing the group to sell media rights, for example. The motion passed with the remaining five trustees approving the motion.
While Balow, Denno and Vassar voted against the motion, all three spoke in support of Batt’s vision and the project as a whole, and said they wanted to see all necessary documents before voting.
After the “no” votes in December, Balow tried getting a proposal on the April board agenda that would make Spartan Ventures subject to the Freedom of Information Act and would not require trustees to sign nondisclosure agreements to access documents related to the organization.
While Balow, Denno and Vassar all agreed to get the item on the agenda, the remaining five trustees shot it down, meaning the item never had a formal vote.
What does J Batt have to do with the organization’s creation?
Spartan Ventures was the brainchild of outgoing MSU Athletic Director J Batt.
Batt was hired in June 2025 after serving as the Georgia Tech athletic director beginning in 2022. He was recruited by Guskiewicz to serve in the role. Guskiewicz and Batt first met more than two decades ago at University of North Carolina, where Guskiewicz was researching concussions while Batt played soccer.
Batt was under contract with Georgia Tech through 2029 and MSU paid more than $2 million for his buyout. Batt’s buyout from MSU would be $5 million, though his buyout would be cut in half the second Guskiewicz left the job. Guskiewicz is still acting MSU president.
MSU leadership changes
On May 27, MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz was named Clemson University’s next president. Just a few weeks later, Batt was named University of Kentucky’s athletic director.
In a letter to the MSU community, Guskiewicz said the board’s recent misalignment, and revisiting of past conflict, created an “unsustainable situation.”
The announcement as Clemson’s president came 10 days after the board approved two resolutions passed during a Sunday special meeting May 17, both intended to keep Guskiewicz at the school after learning he was being “aggressively pursued,” Scott said during the meeting.
During the meeting, the board approved raising Guskiewicz’s base salary to $2 million and approved an update to the code of conduct and ethics policy for board members, bringing immediate consequences to anyone not following the policy.
Guskiewicz never accepted the raise, and following the approval of the code of ethics rule, Balow and Vassar faced immediate sanctions for not signing the code.
They have both called the policy “unconstitutional” and both were formally censured during the June 12 meeting.
Does J Batt leaving MSU impact the launch of Spartan Ventures?
While the nonprofit was Batt’s baby, the program will be launching as planned without him, according to a statement signed by the group’s top leaders.
“In light of the recent news of upcoming MSU leadership transition, our message is simple: Spartan Ventures is moving forward and it is primed to elevate MSU Athletics to new levels,” Palumbo, Kozinn and House wrote in a joint statement.
Contact Karly Graham at kgraham@lsj.com. Follow her on X at @KarlyGrahamJrn.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Spartan Ventures is set to start this week. What to know
Reporting by Karly Graham, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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By Karly Graham, Lansing State Journal | USA TODAY Network
