SEC Commissioner Mike Slive on Friday announced that the conference will distribute approximately $289.4M "among its 14 league members in the revenue sharing plan” for the ’12-13 fiscal year, which ends Aug. 31, according to Edward Aschoff of ESPN.com. The amount is the “highest total ever distributed in SEC history.” Each school will receive approximately $20.7M "in revenue distribution.” The SEC last year distributed $244M among its schools and $219.9M "during the ’10-11 fiscal year" (ESPN.com, 5/31). In Orlando, Edgar Thompson noted this is the “24th consecutive year the nation's wealthiest conference reported a revenue increase.” Texas A&M President Dr. R. Bowen Loftin, whose school joined the league in ’12, said of the distribution, "We're very happy. It will only go up, we're sure of that" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 6/1). USA TODAY’s George Schroeder wrote the SEC is “about to get healthier.” The league has “not released terms of its recently struck deal with ESPN for the SEC Network.” But when that revenue “is combined with increased payouts of as much as" $100M annually from the College Football Playoff, including $40M a year from a new deal with the Sugar Bowl, SEC schools' "paydays could grow by at least" $10M a year (USATODAY.com, 6/1).
FACILITIES BOOM: In St. Louis, Dave Matter noted at the Univ. of Missouri there are “several ongoing renovations” as the school “finds its stride in the facilities race across the Southeastern Conference.” Construction crews on the campus “are busy.” MU in its second year in the SEC has a “bigger budget and more revenue on the way when the SEC Network launches" in '14. The school will get its “full share” of $20.7M, which is “more than double the revenue MU earned from the Big 12 just three years ago.” MU Exec Associate AD Tim Hickman said that MU’s ‘10 share was “approximately $9 million.” In ‘11, the last year MU received Big 12 revenue, the school “earned $11 million.” After leaving the Big 12 for the SEC, MU “did not receive a league payout last year.” Instead, the Big 12 withheld $12.41M from MU, “which the university absorbed.” Hickman said that the athletics department “will repay the university over the next several years” (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 6/2). Meanwhile, in Birmingham, Jon Solomon wondered, “What's with some of the empty seats, SEC football fans?” The SEC “authorized money at its spring meetings to conduct market research this fall to better understand why football attendance at some schools has declined.” The survey information will be “used to analyze the conference and individual schools” (BIRMINGHAM NEWS, 6/1).
