South Carolina received more than $44 million from the SEC
Life in the SEC has plenty of benefits for South Carolina athletics — starting with more than $44 million in revenue distribution for the 2018-19 year.
The conference announced a total pool of $651 million was distributed among its 14 member schools over the past fiscal year. Not counting money retained by schools from bowl games, the average amount distributed came out to just over $44.6 million, commissioner Greg Sankey said.
That’s an increase from 2017-18, when the average amount was $43.1 million, according to the league office. The Big Ten recently surpassed the SEC in per-school average distribution, topping $50 million in the 2018 fiscal year, but the conference still leads the ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12 in that metric.
The total distribution amount is generated from TV agreements, postseason bowl games, the College Football Playoff, the conference football championship, the SEC men’s basketball tournament, NCAA championships and a supplemental surplus distribution.
According to a USA Today database, South Carolina ranks among the top 20 schools in the country in total athletics revenue and expenses and turns a profit.
In the proposed 2018-19 budget presented by athletics director Ray Tanner to the board of trustees in June 2018, the projected SEC/NCAA revenue distribution was actually lower than the amount announced by the conference — $41.6 million. That number was projected to comprise just slightly more than 35% of the department’s overall revenue for the fiscal year.
For the proposed 2019-20 budget, presented by Tanner in June 2019, the revenue distribution was projected to be $44.4 million as both revenues and expenses continue to rise to all-time highs.
That number could increase significantly in a couple years — when the league’s television deal with CBS expires after 2023, ESPN/ABC is expected to pay more than six times the $55 million per year CBS currently pays for the rights, according to Sports Business Journal. That would increase each individual school’s payout by $20 million per year.
This story was originally published January 30, 2020 at 2:43 PM.
