Big 12 Distributes $30.4 Million to Each Of Its 10 Schools

The Big 12 had some wacky news on Friday that it is reinstating its conference championship game, but it also had some really good news. That news was that it would distribute $304 million to its 10 teams for a total of $30.4M per team (#Math).

This is the third most of the power five conferences behind the SEC and Big 10.

This is a jump from last year of around $6M per team on average, and it’s probably not going to be that much less than what most SEC teams make. Here’s why. When the SEC announces its revenue distribution ($31M last year, probably $35-40M this year), it includes third tier rights. That is, content that is distributed in the SEC’s case to the SEC Network.

These Big 12 numbers do not. So Texas’ third tier rights are tied up in the Longhorn Network and worth $15M which means Texas made ~$45M this year. That’s pretty good. It’s more than probably every SEC school other than maybe Alabama which can even sell its beyond-third tier content for a lot of money.

A few years ago, OSU’s third tier rights sold for around $5M. Last year it sold them for $5.5M. Which means that figure is probably higher by now. I’d say in the neighborhood of $6M (this falls in line with what the Big 12 reported two years ago that its teams’ third tier money is between $3M and $15M <—- Texas).

So OSU is making probably over $36M from the digital and radio distribution of its athletic content.  That’s insane. And it’s also in the neighborhood of what SEC schools are making. Remember, last year SEC schools got $31M plus whatever they could get from their beyond-third tier rights (golf, swimming etc.)

We’re not even touching ticketing, concessions etc. It’s one reason the Cowboys are one of the 30 most lucrative athletic departments in the country.

So where does all this dough come from?

Brett McMurphy noted that the SEC money comes from the following places. You can presume the Big 12’s money comes from the same places save the fact that there is no Big 12 Network (and never will be).

The total amount of the distribution is composed of revenue generated from the SEC Network, televised football, bowl games, the SEC football championship, televised basketball, the SEC men’s basketball tournament, NCAA championships and a supplemental surplus distribution.

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby actually said last year that each school would be getting upwards of $44M a year by the time the TV contracts were to run out in the mid 2020s. And now with the implementation of the Big 12 title game which Bowlsby said would be worth ~$3M per school. that number could be even higher.

So this is a big deal for OSU and other teams in the Big 12. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t explore leaving because I think we all know this ship is going down either soon or when the contracts with ESPN and Fox run out. But if you stay, at least you’re guaranteed a hefty payday every June.

Conference title game is the big news, but this is pretty darn important. Not nearly the gap we thought. https://t.co/dpSJBEdEbx

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) June 3, 2016