SEC vs. Big Ten: Which Conference Has the Biggest Financial Advantage in College Football?

In college football, there's the SEC, the Big Ten, and then everybody else. The two conferences claim the last seven College Football Playoff championships and feature most of the top contenders for the 2026 season. But between the two massive powers, which has a financial edge?

Revenue Reports

According to reports stemming from IRS fillings, The Big Ten outearned the SEC in the 2025 fiscal year, although the overall picture is more complicated than the conclusion. The Big Ten reported $1.47 billion in revenue while the SEC reported $1.11 billion. For the individual schools, the picture varied. For instance, the Big Ten shared less revenue with Oregon and Washington as part of the financial settlement of getting the schools out of the Pac-12. Oregon and Washington earned just under $50 million from the conference revenue, while Ohio State topped out the Big Ten at $91.6 million.

Meanwhile, the SEC likewise made minimal payments to Texas ($12.1 million) and Oklahoma ($2.6 million) as part of the financial conditions of extricating those teams from the Big 12. But each of the other 14 members received at least $70.3 million, with the conferrence topping out with Georgia at $74.5 million.

Conference Valuation

Meanwhile The Athletic provided figures for valuation of the conferences, with the SEC gaining a slight edge over the Big Ten. The SEC had a total cumulative brand valuation of $17.3 billion, led by Texas ($2.46 billion) and Georgia ($1.95 billion). Even with two more teams in the Big Ten, the league's total valuation was estimated at $16.8 billion.

Again, though, the picture is complicated. SEC may be the overall leader, but Mississippi State ($248 million) and Vanderbilt ($250 million) both were valued well under the Big Ten's lowest-valued program, Rutgers ($314 million).

NIL Spending

The Athletic again did the leg work, providing valuations on the NIL money spent by each power conference team. The NIL spending money seems to lean predominantly toward the SEC, with 11 of the top 20 NIL budgets in college football springing from the conference, while only six of the top 20 hailed from the Big Ten. The average SEC program was noted to be spending between $33 and $38 million on NIL, while the average Big Ten program was spending between $27 and $31 million on NIL.

Of the seven programs estimated to be spending $40 million or more, three were from the SEC and two were from the Big Ten, with Ohio State and Oregon hanging up top along with Texas, LSU, and Texas A&M.

Big picture-- SEC or Big Ten?

In the end, the answer as to which conference is in better shape probably depends on the measure. The SEC might be doing a bit better on average while the Big Ten's top teams may be outperforming even the SEC's top teams. Both are faring incredibly well.

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