Oklahoma Receives First Paycheck from SEC

Oklahoma received its first payment from the Southeastern Conference on Thursday, and more is on the way.

Much more.

The Sooners and the Texas Longhorns, who formally became SEC members on July 1, each received $27.5 million resulting from “transition payments derived from a combination of television agreements and refundable application fees remitted to the Conference in a prior fiscal year,” according to an SEC press release.

Next fiscal year, OU and Texas will be full earning members of the SEC.

This year, full members received an average distribution of $52.5 million.

Compared to OU’s revenue share in its last full fiscal year with the Big 12 Conference, that’s up significantly — from almost $40 million, according to 2022-23 financial records.

The 10 full members that year each shared from total distribution of $398 million, while newcomers BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF got partial amounts of about $18 million each.

The previous year, to its 10 members, the Big 12 distributed a total of $440 million, or about $44 million per school.

The SEC’s total distribution for the 2023-24 fiscal year (ending Aug. 31) is $808.4 million, to be divided among 16 universities, with OU and Texas receiving partial shares.

That total is up from last year’s amount of $741.0 million distributed to 14 schools from the league’s overall revenue total of 852.6 million. This year's total overall revenue will be made public at the annual spring business meetings in late May-early June in Destin, FL.

This year’s SEC distribution total excludes bowl revenue retained by schools for bowl expenses and does not include an additional $8.1 million of “NCAA and SEC grants divided among the 14 universities that were members of the SEC for the entirety of the 2023-24 fiscal year,” according to the release.

“The SEC’s annual distribution of revenue helps member universities maintain strong athletics programs while supporting the academic and athletic ambitions of thousands of student-athletes across the conference,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said.

“As the entire college athletics enterprise works through significant change, SEC universities are uniquely positioned to provide new financial benefits for student-athletes while continuing to deliver transformative, life-changing college experiences. Beyond providing an exceptional, debt-free education, this experience includes world-class support in coaching, training, academic counseling, medical care, mental health support, nutrition, life-skills development and post-eligibility healthcare coverage for SEC student-athletes.”

This year’s total includes $790.7 million distributed directly from the conference office, and an additional $17.7 million retained by universities that participated in 2023-24 football bowl games.

The amount distributed from the conference office, excluding bowl expenses retained by participants, averaged $52.5 million for the 14 schools with full-year participation.

The total distribution amount for the 14 schools receiving a full revenue share is comprised of revenue generated from television agreements, post-season bowl games, the College Football Playoff, the SEC Football Championship Game, the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament, and NCAA Championships.

The SEC’s total revenue for 2023-24 is an increase over the $741.0 million distributed in 2022-23, according to Thursday’s press release, a number that the league reported last February. The average per school distribution increased from $51.3 million in 2022-23, not including bowl money retained by participants.

That total number climbed from $721.8 million the year before, which produced an average of $49.9 million per school.

Last May, the Associated Press reported that the five power conferences (including the Pac-12) generated $3.55 billion in the 2022-23 fiscal year, with the Big Ten reporting revenue of $879.9 million, while the SEC reported $852.6 million, the ACC $617 million, Pac-12 $603.9 million, and the Big 12 $510.7 million (still as a 10-member league).

Some independent media rights analysts have projected the SEC will soon distribute more than $75 million per school thanks to the league’s exclusive rights distribution deals with ABC/ESPN.