Data firm projects SEC schools topping $100 million in annual revenue by end of decade

When the post-modern round of realignment started, in 2010, the target figure was $20 million per school per year. That's what got Nebraska to join the Big Ten, Colorado (later joined by Utah) to join the Pac-12. Then-commissioner Dan Beebe kept the Big 12 from falling apart by promising Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma that they, too, would be paid like the big boys at $20 million per year.

And before too long the conferences paying out $50 million a year to their members will feel hopelessly poor.

That's according to Navigate, a sports and entertainment market research company. 

Their research projects the Big Ten projecting $75 million per school per year by 2025 and the SEC crossing $100 million per school by 2028. 

Meanwhile, the ACC, Big 12, and Pac-12 are projected to top out in the mid-50s. 

If these numbers come to fruition, it will create a first-world existential crisis among the Less Powerful 3. Can you run an athletics department on $50 million on conference-distributed revenue (remember, this is all before you add in school-specific revenue like donations, ticket sales and the like)? Of course you can. But good luck keeping up with the More Powerful 2. 

The Big Ten will begin a new TV contract in 2023-24 that is expected to generate $1 billion per year. The SEC signed a $3 billion contract with ESPN that starts in 2024. 

The Big 12 and Pac-12 will both begin new contracts in the middle of the decade, but aren't expected to approach B1G/SEC levels. The ACC, meanwhile, is stuck on a deal with ESPN that pays $17 million per school per year through 2036, the price required by ESPN to create the ACC Network. 

The projection also includes the start of an expanded College Football Playoff in 2026. Though obviously the financials of that deal are yet to be seen, Navigate went conservative and projected the field growing from four to eight, though most expect the CFP to grow to 12 after the 4-team contract expires in 2025.

Reminder: these are just projections. Though the future they project is likely more accurate than not.