It’s a bit inelegant to compare a 156-year-old Catholic university with a startup football league, but Mike Repole’s relationship with the UFL is not entirely unlike his relationship with St. John’s University, his alma mater in New York City.
His wealth is the dominant source of funding for the NIL payments on the resurgent men’s basketball team, which has spent most of this season in the AP Top 25 poll. He’s an active, opinionated booster for basketball, but he also advises the university and athletic department on marketing, ticket sales, fundraising, licensing, concession sales and the overall brand and reputation of the university.
Athletic Director Ed Kull met Repole as a junior sponsorship salesman for St. John’s more than 25 years ago. As that relationship blossomed, he left to work for Repole at Vitaminwater. In late 2024, after Repole and the university had mended a falling out, the university recruited Kull away from Fordham. Today, they’re lockstep as the university pursues a Final Four berth and a solution to enrollment declines. “I very much look to him as a shareholder,” said Kull. “He’s a co-owner of our program.”
At a time of intense change and challenges for the entire enterprise, and athletics specifically, at a mid-tier urban university, Repole’s input would go for top dollar on the consultant market, said Kull.
“In a world where, yes, Mike’s generosity is a game changer for us right now, his mind in the business space is that much more valuable,” Kull said.
Along with Kull, Repole says he’s routinely in touch with university President the Rev. Brian Shanley, head coach Rick Pitino and the players. In his rapid-fire style, Repole reminisces about his time as a teenager idolizing the St. John’s teams of the 1980s, and how much he enjoys connecting with fans who are also enjoying the renaissance he’s funded. Repole was courtside on Feb. 6, when St. John’s beat favored UConn in front of a sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden. He met two fans in their 60s, who said the St. John’s resurgence has rekindled their friendship. “I haven’t felt like that in 30 years,” Repole said. “I mean, the buzz that was going on there, it was magical.”
He frames his involvement at St. John’s in charitable, community terms. But he expects a return on investment. “If me or Rick [Pitino] said we’d be happy winning a couple games in the tournament, that’d be a lie. It’s Final Four or bust.”