Around $43.7M in revenue was distributed to 13 SEC member schools in '18getty images
The SEC's three-year "domination of college sports revenue is ending," as the Big Ten "likely distributed" a little more than $50M to each of its member schools, higher than the $43.7M the SEC reported, according to Steve Berkowitz of USA TODAY. The SEC reported just under $660M in revenue during FY '18, resulting in the $43.7M being distributed to the 13 SEC member schools that "received full shares." Ole Miss did not get a full share because the football team was banned from postseason play. The Big Ten "began new television agreements" during FY '18, and "generally does not file its federal tax return until the spring." The SEC is the "first conference to release its new tax records." The new SEC tax document also showed Commissioner Greg Sankey was credited with nearly $2M in total compensation for '17, including $1.9M in base compensation. This represents a $100,000 increase over his compensation for '16 (USA TODAY, 2/2). In Baton Rouge, Scott Rabalais noted the SEC's total revenue is up just over 5% from the $596.9M distributed in '16-17, which came out to $40.9M per school. That amount was "only a slight increase" over the $40.4M each school received in '15-16 (Baton Rouge ADVOCATE, 2/2). In Lexington, Jared Peck noted the total distribution is "comprised of revenue" from TV agreements, postseason bowl games, the CFP, the SEC Championship, the SEC men's basketball tournament, NCAA Championships and a supplemental surplus distribution (LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER, 2/2).
GEAUXING DOWN: In Baton Rouge, Brooks Kubena noted LSU's overall athletic revenue fell to $145.5M in '17-18, a drop of nearly $2.3M from '16-17. The department spent $137.5M in '17-18, $5.7M more than the previous year. LSU's revenue "ranked ninth nationally" in FY '17, with a total of over $147.7M. LSU football "made a profit" of about $55M in '17-18, a decrease of nearly $1M from '16-17. LSU football pulled in about $86.6M in revenue, most of it through $34.5M in ticket sales. Football, men's basketball and baseball were the "only sports to turn a profit" for LSU in '17-18. The '17 football season saw a drop of about 2% in football's "total profit margin from the previous season." Ticket sales decreased about $1.7M from the '16 season, and Tiger Stadium "did not post a sellout" in '17 (Baton Rouge ADVOCATE, 2/1).
