The first public disclosure of Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby's compensation shows he was "credited with a little more" than $1.2M for "less than a year on the job," according to figures cited by Steve Berkowitz of USA TODAY. But the conference's new federal tax return -- which "covered Bowlsby's first 6 1/2 months as commissioner -- also shows that Bowlsby's early impact for the conference was substantial." Buoyed by a "new television contract that Bowlsby helped negotiate with Fox and ESPN, the 10-team conference reported that its annual revenue increased" by about $57.6M to $217.1M during FY '13, which ended June 30. But "even with that jump," the Big 12 trailed the SEC by almost $100M. The 14-team SEC reported $314.5M in "total revenue" for FY '13 ending Aug. 31. Bowlsby's total compensation from the conference of $1.21M "included just more than $970,000 in base pay and nearly $200,000 in retirement and other deferred compensation." The return "lists him with no bonus pay, and it provides no other notes about his pay." Based on his monthly base pay, Bowlsby's "annual salary" projects to about $1.8M, which would be "about $600,000 more than the base amount the SEC reported paying" Commissioner Mike Slive for the '12 calendar year. Bowlsby also would be "collecting about $525,000 more in base pay than his predecessor, Dan Beebe did" in '10 (USA TODAY, 5/14).
