College sports’ “Home of More” continues to get more.
The Southeastern Conference took in $852.5 million of revenue during its 2023 fiscal year, setting a college athletic conference record for earnings—at least for the time being— according to a copy of its latest tax return filed this week.
The SEC’s FY23 haul was a roughly $50 million increase in revenue from the previous fiscal year and slightly more than the $846 million the Big Ten reported generating for 2022. Both conferences are continuing to close the gap with the NCAA, which brought in $1.22 billion for FY22. (Both the association and Big Ten are slated to file their FY23 tax returns this summer.)
At the end of August 2023, the SEC had net assets of $191 million after distributing $741 million to its 14 member institutions—an average of around $51.3 million per school after excluding bowl expenses. That was a slight year-over-year increase.
Commissioner Greg Sankey, now in his ninth year, earned $3.6 million in total compensation, a minor dip from what he pocketed the previous year. The SEC announced in July that it would extend Sankey’s contract through at “at least” 2028; the latest return likely does not account for any increase in his compensation based on the extension.
Among other notable line items were the conference’s legal expenditures of $2.8 million, which were nearly three times more than spent the previous year. Along with several other conferences and the NCAA, the SEC is a defendant in multiple antitrust lawsuits filed by college athletes.
The Big Ten reported $846 million in revenue and net assets of $255 million for the fiscal year ending June 2022. It typically files its tax returns in May.
This week, the SEC and Big Ten announced the formation of a joint advisory group, made up of their member schools’ presidents. The strategic partnership, according to a press release, was made “to address the significant challenges facing college athletics and the opportunities for the betterment of the student-athlete experience.”
The SEC is set to see its revenue jump to a whole new level as its new 10-year, $3 billion media partnership with ESPN commences this year.
In May 2021, the SEC announced that it would provide each of its members a $23 million supplemental revenue distribution to help make up COVID-related financial shortfalls. To pay for this, the conference took out a $350 million term loan through Truist Securities and Regions Capital Markets. The money was borrowed against future conference revenue from media rights.
