College sports is awash in money, a point that was driven home again Friday.
SEC commissioner Mike Slive announced that the league will distribute a record $292.8 million of revenue among its 14 schools, and the Big 12 announced it will distribute a record $220.1 million among its 10 schools.
The 14 SEC schools will receive about $20.9 million apiece. The Big 12 revenue distribution is different; second-year members TCU and West Virginia receive two-thirds of a full share, or about $14 million each, while the other eight schools get about $23 million apiece. Remember that local media deals negotiated by each school are not included in the conference packages.
SEC revenues are going to increase in the future with the advent of the SEC Network, which will go live in August. The SEC already has five of the nation's "most valuable" football programs.
It was revealed last week that the Pac-12 reported $334 million in total revenue for the 2012-13 fiscal year, more than the Big Ten or the SEC.
The distribution-per-school numbers for the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 should come out in the next week or so. A report by the Lafayette (Ind.) Journal & Courier in late April said that 11 of the Big Ten's 12 member schools (all but Nebraska, which recently joined) are expected to receive around $27 million each this year. Under Big Ten bylaws, schools don't receive a full cut of league revenue until they are in the league for six years; that rule also will affect Maryland and Rutgers, which are joining the Big Ten starting with the 2014-15 academic year.
Not so coincidentally, considering the money involved, Slive spoke Friday at the close of the SEC spring meetings and said, basically, that if the NCAA does not approve autonomy for the "Power Five" conferences, the SEC would want to create a separate division within the NCAA.
He said he was optimistic autonomy would be granted in August, but did speak of a hammer of sorts that could be wielded by the "Big Five."
"If it doesn't pass, the next move would be to go to a Division IV," Slive said. "It's not something we want to do."
Slive, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany and Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott told The Associated Press earlier this month -- Slive in a one-on-one interview, Delany and Scott at an event in San Francisco -- that they want to ensure that the "Power Five" leagues are able to decide how the legislative process works in areas affecting their athletes.
"I hope we can develop some momentum and act, and act in a way that maybe we haven't been able to act over the last 25 years," Delany said.
The NCAA board of directors is expected to vote on a restructuring in early August.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
