Following the end of the 2017-18 NCAA football season, the Power Five conferences have disclosed the funding distribution for their respective teams. While each conference ultimately distributes their funds differently, a detailed breakdown of their funding structure reveals constants that benefit teams in these Power Five conferences. These reports, each detailing the conferences distribution from the Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17), offer a stronger understanding of how these conferences approach their payouts to various college teams. The following is a breakdown of the funding distributions for each of the Power Five NCAA conferences (SEC, Big-12, Big Ten, ACC, and Pac-12)
SEC
The SEC, the first conference to release their tax records for FY17, has awarded each of their athletic programs financial compensation from $39.9M to $42M. While the University of Alabama and the University of Georgia are on the higher end, the 14 teams in the SEC received an average of nearly $41M, significantly more than the average distributed to teams in other NCAA conferences. This distribution does not include the nearly $8M in grants that the SEC has awarded universities across the conference.
Big 12
The Big 12 has distributed roughly $34.8 M per school to the 10 schools that are a part of this conference. Baylor University, the only exception to this, as the league is still withholding 25% of their distribution as the result of a sexual assault scandal. This level of distribution is up from the previous years, showing the health of the conference overall.
Big Ten
While the Big Ten conference reported distributions for FY17 between $37M and $37.2M. This level of distribution is consistent across the 14 Big Ten teams. While this distribution is lower than the SEC’s revenue distribution, a new TV deal has the Big Ten conference projecting around $50M for their FY18 distribution.
PAC-12
Offering a consistent distribution across all of their 12 members, distributing $30.9M to each school for FY17. While this is comparatively lower than other conferences, the PAC-12 has celebrated this revenue as a significant stride in maintaining their conference. PAC-12 is seeking to maintain an upward trend in revenue distribution in FY18.
ACC
The 15 members of the ACC received between $25.3M and $30.7M. The only exception to this is Notre Dame, who received on $8M due to their involvement in the conference through multiple collegiate sports. Despite Clemson University’s record in playoff and championship games in recent years, the ACC continues to offer revenue distributions that are comparably lower to other conferences.