The Athletic dives into Kentucky's Champions Blue model, JMI deal: UK is 'Swimming' in Money

April marks one year since UK Athletics transitioned to Champions Blue LLC, a holding company created to give the department more flexibility and to generate revenue to remain competitive in the NIL/revenue-sharing era of college sports. August marks one year since the University of Kentucky extended its multimedia rights partnership with JMI Sports to 2040, a deal worth $210 million that essentially brings NIL negotiations in-house. Since then, we’ve all wondered exactly how both the Champions Blue LLC and JMI deal work. Today, we got an in-depth explanation in a feature in The Athletic.

Justin Williams spoke to people at UK and in the industry about Kentucky’s new model, considered the first of its kind in college sports. In short, Kentucky won’t be hurting for money moving forward. Eric Monday, UK’s executive vice president for finance and administration and a Champions Blue board member, is quoted as saying that UK wants to grow its annual budget to over $200 million, to the $225 to $250 million range. That would put them near the biggest players in college sports, like Texas and Ohio State, which have budgets over $300 million.

“Everybody I know thinks Kentucky has the smartest model in college sports,” an anonymous industry source told Williams. “It’s still kind of a mystery, but it’s working. All we know is that Kentucky keeps coming up with money.”

This article is behind a paywall, so I can’t share too much; however, here are a few parts that stood out to me. (Now feels like a great time to remind you that our 50% off KSR+ sale includes a full year of access to The Athletic.)

Clarity on Champions Blue

Williams starts by giving more details on UK Athletics’ transition to Champions Blue LLC. We’ve heard from Mitch Barnhart and others about how it will help the department be more efficient and generate money, but this piece gives a little more context, explaining how UK can now cut through the red tape on large-scale projects and bring in outside money. We’re already seeing that at work with renovations to Kroger Field and the university buying the corner property near Memorial Coliseum to potentially build an entertainment district or a new basketball practice facility.

JMI Deal: “It sounds like money laundering, but I swear it’s not.”

Then there’s the JMI deal. One source told The Athletic that the multimedia rights partner generates more than $30 million a year for UK Athletics, allowing the department to go well over its revenue-sharing cap of $20.5 million (for the 2025-26 season).

“All the money is in one pot, so to speak,” said another industry source familiar with the program but unauthorized to speak publicly. “It sounds like money laundering, but I swear it’s not.”

More industry sources said Kentucky Football’s roster budget for the 2026 season will be close to $25 million, well above last year’s, and that “a few men’s basketball players already have over-the-cap deals in place for the 2026-27 season.”

Paul Archey, the president of JMI Sports, is quoted as saying moving NIL in-house has been “incredibly successful” so far, although KSR’s Jacob Polacheck and Jack Pilgrim shared concerns about the restrictions of the partnership when it comes to recruiting in December. That article is actually linked, so shoutout to The Athletic. Recruiting is clearly still a struggle for Mark Pope — Kentucky still has zero 2026 commitments — but, if there’s one underlying message in this piece, it’s that money is not the reason. You could take that a step further when it comes to on-court results.

The article also goes into the future, and whether or not UK’s LLC could lead to private equity. It sounds like, by embracing this model, the univeristy may not be afraid to try. I’ll direct you to The Athletic for more.

[Kentucky’s bold strategy to generate revenue could be blueprint for other big spenders]