SEC commissioner Greg Sankey announced Thursday a revenue distribution of $741 million to the league’s 14 universities for the 2022-23 fiscal year. The distribution, excluding bowl revenue retained by schools for bowl expenses, averaged $51.3 million per school. That number is up from the $49.9 million it distributed in 2021-22.
The SEC ranked second among Power Five conferences in 2021-22 behind the Big Ten, which distributed an average of $58.8 million per school. The Big 12 ranked third with an average of $44.9 million, while the ACC ($39.4 million) and Pac-12 ($37 million) fell behind.
The SEC’s 2022-23 total includes $718 million distributed directly from the conference office and an additional $23 million earned by universities that participated in bowl games at the end of the 2022 season. The league reported that the distribution amount does not include an additional $8.1 million of NCAA and SEC grants divided among the 14 member schools.
The total amount is made up of revenue generated from TV agreements, post-season bowl games, the College Football Playoff, the SEC Football Championship Game, the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament, and NCAA Championships.
“SEC member universities are proud to support thousands of student-athletes who participate in broad-based athletics programs across the league,” Sankey said. “SEC universities are committed to providing a high-level experience for all of our participants through an impactful and life-changing college experience that includes world-class support in coaching, training, academic counseling, medical care, mental health support, nutrition, life-skills development and post-eligibility healthcare coverage for student-athletes.”
The Big Ten and SEC took a step toward sorting out college athletics’ numerous issues last week, announcing the creation of a joint advisory committee to examine the future of college sports and to address its ever-changing landscape.
While the advisory committee shall have no decision-making power, it could mark the first step in the Big Ten and SEC distancing themselves from the traditional NCAA model. The leagues cited “recent court decisions, pending litigation, a patchwork of state laws and complex governance proposals” as reasoning for the committee’s formation. Each of those factors connects to the NCAA’s attempted enforcement of its widely-contested regulations.
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“We have all been in rooms with people, big rooms filled with a lot of people,” Sankey said Thursday. “We don’t seem to be making a lot of progress on the key issues present in college athletics. Here’s an opportunity to slim down the participants, focus on two conferences with the idea that we can introduce some concepts that others can consider and react to. We have a set of pressing issues upon us that merit this kind of conversation… There are no magical answers,” he said. “The idea that people out there might think I have magical answers to the problems facing college athletics — that keeps me up at night.”
Carter Bahns contributed to this report.
