Orlando Sentinel Article on Conference Revenue Fig

[Apis Bull]

Orlando Sentinel Article on Conference Revenue Figures

Big 10, ACC take in most '02-'03 revenue

By Alan Schmadtke | Sentinel Staff Writer

Posted May 30, 2004

For almost every year in recent memory, the Southeastern Conference has gathered for its annual spring meetings and had its commissioner proclaim the league, in subtle language, the king of cash.

Not this year. This week in Destin, SEC Commissioner Mike Slive can give another strong state-of-the-SEC speech, pointing to more than $103 million in disbursements to his conference members last year. It was the second year in a row the league has paid out at least $100 million to its members.

But informational returns filed by conferences to the Internal Revenue Service -- collected by the Orlando Sentinel through Freedom of Information Act requests -- show the Big Ten and the Atlantic Coast Conference as the country's athletic cash cows for 2002-03, the latest year for which financial data is available.

Bolstered by sending two teams to the BCS for the 2002 season (Ohio State and Iowa), the Big Ten paid out more than $109 million to its 11 conference members, the largest total payout of the country's 11 Division I-A conferences. None of the Big Ten's members received less than $9.9 million, and Wisconsin was the league leader at $10.04 million.

Over the same period, the ACC paid out $97.6 million to its members, just behind the total of the Big Ten and SEC. But individual ACC members reeled in more than almost every other school in the country. That group of individual winners was headed by Florida State ($11.4 million) and Wake Forest ($11.3 million), highest of any schools documented by conferences and the Sentinel.

"In all these cases, the money isn't the conference's money. It's the schools' money," Western Athletic Conference Assistant Commissioner Steve Macy said. "We're just a pass-through point."

Almost without exception, conferences generate revenue for member schools by selling rights for home football and basketball games to a national TV network and to a regional network or syndicator; through bowl-game agreements; and through sponsorships.

In turn, schools rack up money for themselves and fellow league members by qualifying in and advancing through the NCAA men's basketball tournament. They also do so by qualifying as an at-large pick in the BCS.

Any money from the NCAA for scholarships, grants and gender equity is sent to conference offices, which then sets aside the cash for each school's pot. Some conferences have equal revenue-sharing plans. Others, such as the Big East, determine shares based on schools' postseason participation and TV appearances.

The Big Ten's overall revenue, some of which is held is reserve and not shared by members, jumped 11.8 percent over the previous year -- a $12.4 million hike from $104.5 million, records show. Although the league does not break down its revenue sources specifically in IRS filings, nearly $4 million of the increase came from having a second team in the BCS.

TV rights fees and BCS payouts increased dramatically, and those outpaced traditional revenue sources -- namely the NCAA Tournament. It's that scenario that has permitted the six BCS leagues to stretch out the gap between themselves and the non-BCS conferences.

Between them, the six large conferences pulled in more than $280 million in TV rights fees revenues in 2002-03, filings show. For their schools, that's an average of $4.5 million each.

"Without getting too philosophical, television is an important part of what we do," Slive said. "Television helps our schools pay for things like scholarships and allows us to get national exposure for our schools and our student-athletes."

Among the other BCS conferences, the Big 12 paid out $77.3 million, the Pac-10 $69.2 million and the Big East $61.6 million.

Also gleaned from the IRS filings:

Conference USA paid out more than $19.6 million back to its schools, the most of the five conferences that aren't full partners in the BCS. Next came the Mountain West, which paid out $10.5 million to its members.

But neither C-USA nor the Mountain West detailed exact disbursements in their IRS filings. The Mountain West has an equal-partner revenue sharing plan, Commissioner Craig Thompson said. C-USA, though, had to account for a variety of members -- 11 all-sports members, four non-football schools (Charlotte, DePaul, Marquette and Saint Louis) and one football-only school (Army).

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany was the highest-paid of the 11 league leaders, earning $567,002 in salary and retirement benefits. Next came ACC Commissioner John Swofford ($538,369).

The SEC's football championship game brings in the most money among the three conferences that stage such a game. The conference credited its 2002 game with netting $13.5 million after expenses, two years' of filings show.

Also check out the tables listing the revenues for each school in the Orlando Sentinel's report at:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/college/orl-sptcashbox30053004may30,1,7696566.story?coll=orl-sports-headlines

[smazza]

acc is a good yard stick

[bulls96go]

BE is bottom of bcs with um,bc and vtech at $61.6M

but lightyears away from current CUSA at $19.6

BE may not drop that much if bball can make up some football losses

cusa may see a huge fall off without the bball powers

i don't see football revenue going up

the gap may stay about the same for a while, what individual schools get may change some