The fans filled the stadiums, learned the fight songs, and handed the traditions to their children. No boardroom ever did that. No PE firm ever will.
I've been a Sooner fan since 1978. I lived in Lincoln Hall as a student at OU — a dorm sitting directly across the street from the south end zone, literally in the shadow of Memorial Stadium. The roar on game days didn't come from a broadcast. It came through the walls. I was there for Billy Sims' Heisman season. I haven't missed much since.
I built XSEN for my family. Plain and simple. I'd been learning AI technology and saw an opportunity to build something around the teams we already loved — starting with a single Boomer Bot for OU fans. Once it worked, replicating it to other schools was obvious. A business for my family's future. Then I started reading about private equity firms circling college football. About PE-backed super leagues that would decide — from a boardroom — which programs matter and which don't. About NIL money flowing toward investors instead of athletes. About a three-tier revenue structure where the bottom third of schools get table scraps while the top 16 pocket $250 million a year.
It didn't sit right. Honestly, it pissed me off.
What started as a family business has become something I didn't plan for — a mission. A grassroots effort to make sure fan voices are heard before the decisions get made without us. Because those decisions are being made right now, fast and quiet, in rooms fans will never be invited into.
At 62, semi-retired and apparently a glutton for punishment, I sat down and passed the Series 6, 63, and 65 federal licensing exams — first try, each one. The Series 6 qualifies you to sell investment products. The 63 to do it across state lines. The 65 to act as a registered investment adviser. I eventually relinquished the licenses — the compliance obligations weren't what I wanted. But I took the 65 because I wanted to talk honestly to people about money, not manage it for them. I understand what private equity does with assets it acquires. I understand the difference between a fiduciary obligation to investors and a genuine obligation to a community. What I see coming concerns me — and it should concern every fan.
I've always rooted for the underdog. I've swum upstream most of my life. I'm an outsider to most systems I've ever encountered and I've never lost much sleep over it. That turns out to be exactly the right instinct for what XSEN has become.
Two visions for the future of college sports. Only one includes you.
This isn't a conspiracy theory. It's been reported by CBS Sports, Yahoo Sports, and Sports Illustrated.
In October 2024, a proposal called Project Rudy quietly began circulating among college athletics leadership. Spearheaded by former Disney executives — Evan Richter, Kevin Mayer, and Tom Staggs — now working at a private equity firm called Smash Capital, the plan would restructure college football into a 70-team super league backed by $9 billion in private capital. More than 25 athletic directors from Power Four conferences have already seen the presentation.
We're not here to stop private equity with a hashtag. But we believe fans deserve to know what's being decided in their name — before it's decided. An organized, vocal fan base is harder to ignore than a passive one. That's why we're building this.
Sources: CBS Sports, Yahoo Sports, On3, Sports Illustrated — October–November 2024
These moves happen fast and quiet. We're watching. Drop your email and we'll tell you when something breaks.
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Wrestling. Swimming. Track. The Division II program that built a whole town's identity. The small school community whose team disappeared from the national conversation when the money moved on. The sports private equity ignores — XSEN covers them when nobody else will.
And every general admission fan who built their family's fall around a game day ritual that just got converted to a suite. Your tradition deserves a home. Win or lose. Power 4 or Division II. Football or gymnastics. Ranked or forgotten. If your school matters to you, it matters here.
We the fans — the ones who painted our faces and drove eight hours to bowl games, who brought our kids to general admission before they were old enough to understand the score, who built relationships and memories and family traditions around these teams for decades — declare that college sports is ours.
We are not a demographic to be targeted. We are not a revenue stream to be optimized. We are not a market segment to be tiered into oblivion while the skyboxes fill up with people checking their phones.
We are the sport. The atmosphere in those stadiums — the thing private equity is betting billions of dollars on — came from the father-son ritual. The husband-wife tradition. The small business owner who turned his clients into fans. It came from generations of general admission families who showed up and cared unreasonably. It didn't come from a boardroom. It didn't come from a pitch deck.
The Fan's Network is our platform. Not theirs.
Not just the ones with billion-dollar TV deals. Three channels live today. Over 100 more coming.
Be the first to know when it launches — and be the first to stand up for it.
No spam. Just your school's launch notification.
Founding members help shape what their school's fan association becomes. No cost. No obligation. Just your seat at the table.
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