The Southeastern Conference announced Friday that each member institution will receive about $11 million from the league's revenue-sharing plan this year — the most in SEC history but not nearly as much as next year will bring.
The league's new television contracts with ESPN and CBS, which take effect this fall, will produce an additional $5.5 million per school for fiscal 2010, according to Georgia athletics director Damon Evans.
That windfall, negotiated shortly before the full force of the recession hit last fall, will come at an opportune time. In Georgia's case, it will more than offset a $3 million decline in contributions from fans for the right to buy football season tickets — a decline UGA attributes largely to the economy.
The recession, however, was not evident in the SEC revenue-sharing figures announced Friday.
The league said it will distribute approximately $132.5 million equally to the 12 member schools for the fiscal year that ends Aug. 31 — the largest distribution in league history and up 4 percent from last year's $127.6 million.
This year's distribution comes to $11.04 million for each SEC school. At Georgia, that represents about 14 percent of the fiscal 2009 athletics budget.
The SEC revenue-sharing program includes money from football and basketball television contracts, football bowl games, the SEC football championship game, the SEC men's basketball tournament and NCAA championships events.
The SEC and ACC have more extensive revenue-sharing models than most collegiate conferences. The ACC last year distributed approximately $11 million to each of its schools but hasn't yet determined this year's figure.
The SEC distribution has risen every year since 1989 and figures to have its largest spike next year with the start of the league's massive new TV deals, worth almost $3 billion over the next 15 years.
Evans told the Georgia Athletic Association board of directors last week that after a $5.5 million increase in UGA's share of conference television money next year, the school will receive additional increases of about $400,000 per year over the following decade.
The pending jump in TV revenue is reflected in Georgia's athletics budget for fiscal 2010, approved last week. The budget projects total revenue of $84.8 million, up from $76.3 million this year, despite a drop in contributions tied to football season tickets.
Contributions have declined from about $26 million to about $23 million. Evans said the drop "takes us back to 2007 levels" after a spike in 2008.
HOW THE SEC CASHES IN
The SEC will distribute $132.5 million to its 12 member schools this year. Where the money came from:
Football television contracts: $52 million
Football bowl games: $25.4 million
SEC football championship game: $14.3 million
Basketball television contracts: $13.6 million
SEC men's basketball tournament: $4.1 million
NCAA championships events: $23.1 million
Source: SEC
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
