(Prepare for the Florida State-to-Big Ten rumors in three... two... one...)
Already flush with cash, each member of the Big Ten will realize a significantly higher windfall than they’ve ever received in the past.
According to a report from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch over the weekend, 11 of the 12 members of the conference -- Nebraska, which officially joined the league last year, does not yet receive a full share -- will receive an estimated $24.6 million this year in shared revenue. The Post-Dispatch obtained the financial information from the Illinois athletic department.
The nearly $25 million per-school payout (pictured) is a record for the conference, topping the $22.8 million total each member received last year. In 2008, each school received $18.7 million, meaning the payouts have increased over 35 percent the past four years.
By comparison, the paper notes, SEC schools were paid $19.5 million last year. That financial gap between the two most powerful conferences in the country should be closed in short order, however, as the SEC will reap the benefits from a revamped TV deal in the not-so-distant future. How much reaping could be potentially be involved? "[A]bout $8 million a year in revenue under soon-to-be-renegotiated television agreements,” USA Today wrote Monday morning.
The Big 12 and ACC recently completed -- or will soon officially complete -- new deals that will pay each conference member annually an average of roughly $20 million and $17 million, respectively, over the life of the contract. The Pac-12’s new-ish deal is expected to pay each member in the neighborhood of $22 million a year. Actually, that could be a very lowball number for the Pac-12; in that same USA Today piece, it’s estimated that the conference could make at least $30 million a year per member when the revenues from national television deals and regional Pac-12 networks are combined.
The Big Ten’s record haul comes despite the payout from the wildly successful Big Ten Network coming in less than last year. In 2011, Big Ten schools received $7.9 million from the network; this year, that total will drop to “just” $7.2 million. A 22-percent increase in its television deals, however, more than offset that dip in network payouts.