Getting ready to file those tax returns?
Chances are the figures won’t add up to what the Southeastern Conference is producing.
The SEC compiled $527.4 million in total revenue for the fiscal year that ended Aug. 31, 2015. That was a 62-percent increase from the fiscal year ending in 2014, with the sizable jump due to the inaugural year of the SEC Network and the introduction of college football’s four-team playoff.
Former SEC commissioner Mike Slive announced last May at the league’s spring meetings that $457.8 million would be distributed to its 14 members. Each school received $32.7 million after receiving $20.9 million in 2014, easily the largest such increase in conference history.
“The ability to provide a significant distribution of revenue is more critical than ever for our institutions as they offer more financial and educational benefits to current and former student-athletes,” Slive said last spring. “Beginning this year, our schools will fund new costs associated with providing scholarships based on full cost of attendance, enhance lifetime educational opportunities to former student-athletes, and they are developing new facilities such as athletic nutrition centers to the benefit of student-athletes.”