For a year now, Drew Weatherford has worked in the shadows across college athletics.
He’s held clandestine meetings with representatives from upwards of 50 Football Bowl Subdivision programs — dozens of athletic directors, a few university presidents, even some school board members and chief financial officers.
There were phone calls from his office, Zoom chats in hotel lobbies and in-person gatherings at coffee shops. Most of them unfold in similar fashion. Gregarious and charming with a sweeping white smile, Weatherford, the former FSU quarterback-turned-private capital investor, presents a slide deck detailing a project that he and co-partner Gerry Cardinale of RedBird Capital Partners launched last year.