The Univ. of Missouri last year left the Big 12 for the SEC, and NCAA disclosures and tax returns for the '11-12 financial year, show a "better understanding of the cost of embarking on new paths," according to Blair Kerkhoff of the K.C. STAR. Big 12 tax returns show Oklahoma "received the greatest chunk" at $14.5M, while MU earned $1.4M. The withholding served as MU's "penalty for departing the Big 12." Meanwhile, Kansas reported an $8.7M loss for the school year, "mostly because of severance payments to fired football coach Turner Gill and the assistant coaches." Kansas State reported about $6.7M "less in operating revenue than the previous year." But the school took in $12.3M "more than they spent, making K-State the only one of the three major Division I athletic departments in the area that reported a 2011-12 bottom line -- revenue minus expenses -- in the black." MU's total bottom-line hit for '11-12 was $16.2M "in the red." MU also "ran at a small operating loss, as it did in 2011 and 2010." MU also "believed it would share in some additional Big 12 income," a piece of the $45M signing bonus the league received from Fox as part of their $2.6B TV rights deal. But the timing "worked against" the school. MU Senior Associate AD/Operations Tim Hickman said, "We left before it kicked in and didn’t get a part of that." SEC schools last year received about $20M "from the conference office." But industry analysts believe the SEC "will be in a position to distribute" as much as $35M per school in two years when "new television deals are struck." KU's $12M in basketball ticket revenue for '11-12 "nearly doubled football ticket sales" of $6.5M (K.C. STAR, 3/10).
