Power 5 conferences collected more than $3.5 billion in revenue in 2023
The Power 5 conferences collectively raked in $3.55 billion in fiscal year 2023, according to documents obtained by USA Today. The figure represents a $227 million increase from 2022, and comes as the end of the Camelot era in college athletics is on the horizon.
This week, the SEC and Pac-12 are expected to join the ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 in approving a $2.7 billion settlement in the House v. NCAA lawsuit, which will entail not only back pay to athletes shut out of the NIL era, but a provision to share upwards of $20 million a year directly with athletes.
That's not to say the $3.55 billion figure will be the highest we'll ever, see. Far from it. This year is the first of a 6-year, $7.8 billion TV contract for the expanded College Football Playoff, most of which will go to the Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Big 12. Numerous colleges are also considering accepting interest free loans/blood money from a private equity venture.
The major college football conferences aren't done making money, they just won't get to keep all of it themselves.
If the Power 5 conferences were their own entity, their combined revenue would place them a distant fifth among the major professional sports leagues, but ahead of Major League Soccer.
NFL: $18 billion
NBA: $10.58 billion
MLB: $10.32 billion
NHL: $6.43 billion
The ACC saw the biggest year-to-year jump due to a carriage agreement between Comcast and the ACC Network fully vesting, and the conference also made an extra $40 million due to the Orange Bowl not being a College Football Playoff semifinal, meaning it was a "host" bowl for the conference.
Big Ten: $880 million
SEC: $852.6 million
ACC: $707 million
Pac-12: $603.9 million
Big 12: $510.7 million
Per-school distributions were topped again by the Power 2, and it's worth noting the Big 12 schools retained their third-tier rights, a la the Longhorn Network. Moving forward, the SEC and Big Ten will net 29 percent apiece of annual CFP distributions, while the ACC gets 17 percent and the Big 12 15 percent. That amounts to a $10 million annual difference between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.
Big Ten: $60.5 million
SEC: $51.3 million
ACC: $44.8 million
Big 12: $44.2 million
Pac-12: $33.6 million
It's always interesting to compare the power conferences against each other, and it'll only get more interesting moving forward.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.
