How USC got more than $40 million from the SEC
More than $596 million of total revenue was divided among the 14 institutions of the Southeastern Conference for the 2016-17 fiscal year, which ended August 31, 2017, commissioner Greg Sankey announced Thursday.
The total includes $573.8 million distributed from the conference office, as well as $23.1 million retained by institutions that participated in 2016-17 football bowl games to offset travel and other related bowl expenses.
The total distribution amount is comprised of revenue generated from television agreements, post-season bowl games, the College Football Playoff, the SEC Football Championship, the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament, NCAA Championships and a supplemental surplus distribution.
The total revenue for 2016-17 is an increase above the $584.2 million distributed in 2015-16 and the per school distribution represents an increase over the average school distribution of $40.4 million in 2015-16, not including bowl money retained by participants.
Currently more than 5,400 female and male student-athletes across the SEC receive financial aid and, counting non-scholarship participants, more than 7,800 total student-athletes participate in sports sponsored by SEC institutions.
The 2016-17 academic year was the second in which SEC schools funded costs associated with providing scholarships based on a student-athlete’s full cost of attendance.
The distribution amount does not include approximately $7.8 million of NCAA grants divided among the 14 member institutions.