As it sits right now, the Big Ten Network is the measuring stick of major college conference TV deals. However, recent numbers that were brought to light regarding the NFL's television deals make the estimated $45 million per university in earnings from the new Big Ten Network TV deal look like chump change.
During 2013, the NFL distributed an impressive $131 million per team in TV money. According to the Sports Business Journal, each NFL team will get a 20% increase in national TV money this year compared to 2013, which shakes out to around an additional $27 million per club. The resulting increase is due to new TV contract figures for the league that begin next month.
The article goes on to explain that over the next two seasons the increases will total $23 million per club...minimally. So by 2014 the minimum amount that the NFL will distribute is $181 million per team...and that doesn't include a reworked DirecTV deal that's entering its final season. That reworked deal could push the total split per team well over the $200 million mark.
Think about that for a second. Between CBS, DirecTV, ESPN, NBC, Fox and CBS the NFL is raking in some serious coin.
Just to help put things in perspective, the Packers reported earlier this month that of their $187.7 million in revenue that they earned in the fiscal year ending at the end of March, $131 million of that money came from TV deals.
SEC Media Days had a great showing last week, and I'm certainly interested to see how the SEC Network benefits each university, but this is a great reminder that the NFL is still king. No doubt about it.