Despite hefty SEC payday, Ole Miss’ postseason ban resulted in $7 million hit to distribution

Thanks to a release from the conference on Friday morning, we learned that the SEC distributed a record of $627.1 million in revenue last fiscal year to its 14 schools. For the non-math wizards out there, that works out to an average of $43.1 million per school.

While that hefty figure certainly means that every program is rolling in the dough, there is one exception worth pointing out that sees a figure far less than what their fellow SEC peers got. As noted by USA Today, Ole Miss’ postseason ban as a result of NCAA sanctions has cost the school quite a bit in 2017-18 to the tune of forfeiting nearly $7.1 million.

That drop is also some $10 million less than what a few SEC programs made in the same time frame and largely the result of 13 other schools getting a slice of the Rebels’ cut and a good chunk being held back from the school as part of their infractions penalty.

The SEC’s per-school revenue distributions for fiscal 2018 were impacted by Mississippi’s postseason ban. According SEC spokesman Herb Vincent and the conference’s rules, that meant 50% of the postseason football revenue that would have been designated for Mississippi was distributed to the other 13 schools. The other 50% was placed in escrow and can be distributed to Mississippi if it does not have a major rules violation over a five-year period.

At least Ole Miss can get some of that change back and can be comforted by the fact that the $35.8 million figure is still more than what schools from other Power Five conferences like the Pac-12 and ACC have coming their way. Still, those NCAA sanctions were certainly a hit to the Rebels on the field and in their checkbook.