Biggest college conferences took in nearly $3B in 2019
Steve Berkowitz
The Power Five college sports conferences had more than $2.9 billion in combined revenue for their 2019 fiscal years, new federal tax records show.
The Big Ten reported more than $780 million in revenue, the most of any conference, and its return credits recently retired commissioner Jim Delany with nearly $10.3 million in total compensation for the 2018 calendar year.
The returns, four of which were provided last week in response to requests from USA TODAY Sports, serve as a reminder of the financial backdrop against which major-college sports’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the fight over athletes’ name, image and likeness rights are playing out. According to the documents, covering fiscal years ending June 30:
The Big Ten brought in $781.5 million, which resulted in payouts of about $55.6 million to each of the 14-team conference’s 12 longest-standing members. Maryland and Rutgers received smaller revenue-share amounts, but both also received loans from the conference against future revenue shares.
The 10-team Big 12 reported $439 million and payouts ranging from $38.2 million to $42 million.
The Atlantic Coast reported $455.4 million (payouts from $27.6 million to $34 million across 14 schools, plus $6.8 million to Notre Dame).
The Pac-12 reported $530.4 million (payouts of about $32.2 million). That figure that doesn’t take into account the equity value of the Pac-12 Networks, the conference’s fully self-owned TV and video content provider whose expenses help result in the conference passing less money to its member schools than other conferences.
Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott was credited with $5.4 million in total compensation for the 2018 calendar year, the Big 12’s Bob Bowlsby just over $4 million and the ACC’s John Swofford nearly $3.8 million. (Under IRS rules, a non-profit organization must report its revenue and expense data based on its fiscal year, but it must report compensation data based on the calendar year completed during the fiscal year.)
Bowlsby – whose base salary was $2.5 million in 2018 – is taking a 20% salary reduction “for the foreseeable future,” according to an email from conference spokesman Bob Burda.
Scott, who had $2.95 million in base salary in 2018, is taking a 12% cut in base salary for the 2021 fiscal year, spokesman Andrew Walker said.
The ACC declined to address Swofford’s current compensation.
In January, the Southeastern Conference reported $720.6 million for fiscal 2019, with an average per-school distribution of nearly $45.3 million to the 13 schools that received full shares. Mississippi did not get a full share because its football team was banned from postseason play. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey was credited with almost $2.6 million in total pay.
The aggregate revenue total for the five conferences represents an increase of just more than 6% compared to fiscal 2018. Adjusting for inflation, the Power Five’s combined annual revenue have increased by more than $1.2 billion over the past five years.
The Big Ten, Big 12, ACC and Pac-12 usually have filed and released their tax records in May, but because of the pandemic, the IRS granted non-profit organizations additional time. Those four conferences just completed their 2020 fiscal years – the SEC’s closes Aug. 31 – and their spokespeople said they anticipate those revenue figures will be largely unaffected by the pandemic. The ACC has been expected to see a dramatic increase in 2020, the first year of revenue from the ACC Network.
The outlook for 2021 is uncertain and highly dependent on what happens with the football season. TV contracts provide leagues with most of their revenue, and the Power Five’s TV deals get about 80% of their value from football, according to AJ Maestas, the CEO of Navigate, a Chicagobased firm that specializes in college and pro sports rights valuations.