Learfield: A Revamped Playbook
Gahagan refused that route, but there would be no choice if he couldn’t get the five schools — Boston College, California, Florida State, UCLA and Utah — to agree to new deals. All but $75 million of the debt was due by the end of 2023.
Each conversation with the ADs started with Gahagan saying, “I’m sorry I’m about to tell you this.” Ultimately, though, Gahagan’s transparency and candor helped get the deals reworked.
“We wanted to be a good partner to them and understand their financial situation,” Florida State AD Mike Alford said. “I think they would understand if I came to them with a financial situation, they would work with me on it. So [we] worked it out in the best interest of both parties.”
Those conversations from last spring went better than Gahagan could have imagined. All five schools, in separate negotiations, agreed to restructure the terms of their deals and lessen the guarantees that had become so crippling to Learfield’s bottom line.
Gahagan’s five-campus whirlwind trip up the East Coast then out West, conducted over two days, proved to be a turning point in Learfield’s 11-month process to restructure its $1.1 billion in debt down to a more manageable $500 million. With the recapitalization came $150 million in new liquidity for investment and growth purposes from its new owners.
Learfield closed on the recapitalization last week, providing the Texas-based company a massive financial reboot for its future with new equity investors and, finally, stability.
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