Overview

• The fund provides debt financing for projects such as stadium renovations, premium seating enhancements and multimedia rights development to drive sustained revenue growth.
• Velocity Capital Management and the Texas Permanent School Fund fully backed the initiative, building on Elevate’s existing ticketing and sponsorship consulting services for 60–70 universities.
• Penn State and UCLA became the inaugural partners, marking the first formal commitments under the College Investment Initiative.
• Elevate will structure investments as repayable debt without taking equity stakes, recouping capital over two to ten years through revenue-sharing arrangements.
• The launch follows a federal settlement allowing schools to pay athletes up to $20.5 million and coincides with competing ventures from firms like RedBird Capital and Weatherford Capital.