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The Southeastern Conference announced that it distributed $721.8 million to its 14 schools in 2021-22 from a pot of $802 million in total revenue.
Despite the flashy figures, it’s a slight decrease from the previous years’ distributions: In 2020-21, the conference allocated $764.4 million, for an average of $54.6 million per school.
- The conference office dispersed $698.5 million, which included not only media rights and CFP revenue but also championship earnings.
- Of this revenue, each school received an average of $49.9 million.
- Roughly $23.3 million was sent as a reimbursement for bowl game and College Football Playoff travel expenses.
The revenue decline isn’t cause for alarm, as it’s related to a signing bonus from the SEC’s new $3 billion TV contract with ESPN, which awarded each school $4 million directly, according to USA Today.
Loan repayments, higher event costs, and funding held in escrow for Ole Miss also contributed.
SEC Battle With Big Ten
The SEC is one of the richest and most successful conferences in all of college sports — and, only the Big Ten can compete with it from a revenue standpoint.
In 2022, the Big Ten signed the biggest conference-wide media deal in history: a mid-$7 billion contract with NBC, CBS, and Fox that will significantly increase its revenue.
The Big Ten already ranked second last year with an average distribution in the mid-$40 million range.
