Big Ten Pockets $12M Despite Michigan, Ohio State Losses

The winner of the College Football Playoff National Championship hasn’t yet been decided — TCU and Georgia will settle that next Monday night — but the Big Ten didn’t leave the playoff semifinals empty-handed.

Because two of its member schools — Michigan and Ohio State — played in this past weekend’s semifinal games, the Big Ten will receive $12 million. Both the Wolverines and Buckeyes, however, lost.

• The SEC and Big 12 will receive $6 million each for Georgia and TCU’s appearance, respectively. 
• Each team in a non-playoff bowl under the CFP earns $4 million.
• If a school’s football team meets the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate for participation in a postseason football game, both the conference and team will receive an additional $300,000.

Georgia and TCU, who will play for the national championship at SoFi Stadium, won’t receive any additional distribution, but each school will have all of their expenses covered.

The conferences and schools aren’t the only big winners. 

The championship is estimated to bring between $155 million and $225 million to the Los Angeles region, according to Micronomics Economic Research and Consulting.

The 2022 CFP National Championship weekend in Indianapolis generated $156.6 million, per a Rockport Analytics report.

Expansion Questions 

The CFP announced Dec. 1 that it would expand to 12 teams for the 2024-25 season, though it’s unclear how distributions would be handled.

The expanded format could reportedly fetch $2.2 billion in annual media rights fees. Its current deal with ESPN reportedly pays an average of $470 million per year through 2026.