The Pac-12 granted a record $444 million to its member schools in 2021-22, the most recent year on record, according to figures released Friday.
The conference balance sheet shows nearly $581 million in revenue against $562 million in expenses, booking a profit ("net revenues over expenses") of $18.5 million.
Of that $581 million, nearly $386 million -- roughly two-thirds -- came from television. The conference is currently working on negotiating new television contracts, which will not include USC and UCLA with those schools joining the Big Ten next year.
"We're continuing to have really good dialogue and discussion with several media bidders and media partners ..." Washington State president Kirk Schulz told CougFan this week. "I know our fans are frustrated ... I ask everybody to be patient because we have more bidders coming to the table, more people interested as the time goes on, and the 10 schools are as unified as I've ever seen them."
A deal is expected to be signed late summer or early fall. Afterward, the conference will then work on expansion, according to Schulz's timeline, with San Diego State as the most likely target and SMU behind them. That timeline would likely delay the Aztecs' addition until 2025.
Outside of media deals, postseason bowl games brought in $125 million to the conference. That number will rise with the expansion of the College Football Playoff in 2024, and then rise again when a new contract in 2026. However, the same tide that will lift the Pac-12's financial boat will also lift every other conference's as well. What's more, a 12-team CFP is expected to dish out larger pay days to conferences that place multiple teams in the field and to leagues that see their teams advance. The Pac-12 has not placed a team in the College Football Playoff since 2016 and has not advanced since 2014, the first year of the system.
NCAA funds and conference events generated $38.5 million for the Pac-12, followed by "other revenue" at $13 million, advertising at $10.8 million and grants, gifts and miscellaneous sources at $7.5 million.
The Pac-12 doled out just shy of $20 million in salaries and wages, the largest chunk going to former commissioner Larry Scott. His $4.1 million salary was the largest of any Power 5 commissioner.
The Pac-12 also said it "anticipates" that it will have to pay some of its revenue back after it was discovered Comcast overpaid the conference by $50 million over a 5-year period. Whoops!
Elsewhere, USA Today reports the Power 5 conferences reported $3.3 billion in collective revenue for the 2022 fiscal year. (The NFL, for example, reported $18 billion in revenue in 2022; MLB and the NBA brought in roughly $10 billion, while the NHL made a record $5.3 billion.)
The $3.3 billion represents a collective recovery from the 2-year pandemic disruption, but the Power 5's rate of growth pre-covid suggested they would have made $3.7 billion in 2022 if not for the virus.
Here's how each Power 5 conference ranked:
1. Big Ten -- $845.6 million
2. SEC -- $802 million
3. ACC -- $617 million
4. Pac-12 -- $581 million
5. Big 12 -- $481 million
Per school payouts:
1. Big Ten -- $58.8 million
2. SEC -- $50 million
3. ACC -- $37.7-$41.9 million
4. Big 12* -- $42-$44.9 million
5. Pac-12 -- $37 million
* - The Big 12's payouts do not include third-tier rights, a la the Longhorn Network.