SEC commissioner Greg Sankey announced today that $651 million of total revenue had been divided among the 14 SEC member schools for the 2018-19 fiscal year.
That total combines the $624.2 million from the conference office, and $26.8 million from schools that participated in bowl games offset by travel and other bowl expenses.
That meant a payday of about $44.6 million per school, which was up a few million dollars per school since $43.1 million was paid out in the 2017-18 fiscal year.
The nearly $45 million given out to each school is still behind the Big Ten ($50 million per school) but still well above the Pac-12 ($31.3 million per school). The Big Ten is able to enjoy the added security of their media rights deal being the trailblazer among fellow Power 5 conferences.
To really put it all in perspective and fully illustrate the gap between the Power 5 and Group of 5 when it comes to revenue distribution, the American Athletic Conference reported $74.47 million (per the Orlando Sentinel) back in 2016-17 while the SEC ($650 million), Big Ten ($531 million), Pac-12 ($509 million) ACC ($418 million), and Big 12 ($371 million) all far surpassed that figure.
"The revenue distributed through the Southeastern Conference enables our 14 member universities to provide unparalleled support to their student-athletes through superior instruction, training, equipment, academic counseling, medical care, mental health and wellness support and life-skills development," Sankey shared via the conference's release. "It is this sustained conference-wide commitment to the student-athlete experience that makes this conference sound and its impact so meaningful."
The league's revenue figure is due to explode, as ESPN now has a deal with the league that will pay the SEC an annual fee "in the low $300 million range," which is a massive upgrade from the $55 million made during the league's deal with CBS, Sports Pro Media points out via SBJ. The league's switch from CBS to ESPN was huge news back in December, and the worldwide leader reportedly paid $2.25 billion for the SEC rights over the next 15 years.
See the league's full release here.