jeff webb, the entrepreneur who founded and built Varsity Spirit, has died at 76 following an accident. His death was confirmed by Varsity Spirit, the company he founded in 1974, originally as the Universal Cheerleading Association.
What happens after Jeff Webb’s death is confirmed?
Varsity Spirit confirmed Jeff Webb’s death, and the company publicly announced his passing on its social media channels on Thursday (ET). The announcement did not specify a cause of death.
Additional details circulated in the cheerleading world included a message to employees from Varsity Spirit president Bill Seely stating that Webb had been removed from life support two weeks after suffering a head injury during a game of pickleball. Separately, the International Cheer Union, which Webb founded and served as president, said he passed “following complications after an accident. ”
Requests for comment were not answered by a Varsity spokesperson or a spokesperson for Webb.
What if Jeff Webb’s legacy is both transformation and controversy?
Over decades, Jeff Webb reshaped cheerleading’s footprint. A former collegiate sideline cheerleader at the University of Oklahoma, he grew Varsity from a modest cheer training business into a multi-billion-dollar enterprise through expansion and acquisitions. That scale brought acclaim for building opportunities for millions of athletes, and it also brought criticism tied to alleged monopolistic practices and concerns that profits were prioritized over the safety and well-being of young competitors.
His corporate journey included a series of ownership transitions that changed the industry’s balance of power. In 2011, Webb sold the business to Herff Jones and became CEO and president of the combined entity, later rebranded as Varsity Brands. The enterprise acquired BSN Sports in 2013. In 2014, Varsity was acquired by Charlesbank Capital Partners for $1. 5 billion, and Webb remained as chairman of Varsity Spirit, the cheerleading division.
Over the next decade, three private equity firms took ownership: Bain Capital purchased the company in June 2018 for $2. 5 billion, then sold it to KKR in 2024 for $4. 75 billion including debt. Webb made nine figures from the transactions, while later acknowledging the difficulty of stepping away once institutional capital becomes part of the business model. In a 2024 interview, Webb described that dynamic as a treadmill that is “almost impossible to go back” from.
Webb officially cut all ties with Varsity in December 2020 amid mounting legal scrutiny involving alleged antitrust violations and a wave of sexual abuse cases within cheerleading. At the time, he stated he was leaving Varsity Spirit but not leaving cheerleading.
What happens when cheerleading’s Olympic push continues without its most visible architect?
In the years after leaving Varsity, Webb continued pursuing a long-time goal: placing cheerleading on an Olympic pathway through the International Cheer Union. That effort reached a milestone in July 2021 when the International Olympic Committee granted cheerleading provisional recognition. Two years later, the U. S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee recognized the Varsity-backed USA Cheer as an affiliate organization.
The International Cheer Union credited Webb with transforming cheerleading from a sideline school activity into a fast-growing global sport, citing his leadership and determination. With Webb’s death, the sport’s institutions and business stakeholders are now left to carry forward an agenda that includes both expansion ambitions and unresolved concerns raised over recent years.
