How rich is the SEC? Very, database confirms
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How rich is the SEC? Very, database confirms

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Every year USA Today does the monotonous work of compiling a database of college athletics financial numbers. The 2023 version published Tuesday evening and included the revenues and expenses for 232 athletics departments across the country.

And the results won’t surprise anyone.

The rich are getting richer and everyone else is getting smaller in the rearview.

Ohio State topped the revenue chart with a cool $251.6 million of income followed by all the other usual suspects. Texas was No. 2 followed by Alabama at No. 3 with $214.4 million as each school in the top five produced more than $200 million in the 2021-22 fiscal year. Auburn was 11th on the list with revenue of $174.6 million.

AL.com previously made the same records requests for the Alabama and Auburn financial reports filed with the NCAA that USA Today uses for the datebase. The newspaper partners with the Knight-Newhouse Data project at Syracuse University to do the extensive research to compile the data.

On the opposite end of that spectrum, New Orleans was No. 232 in terms of revenue when it made $2.5 million last year.

Just different worlds.

And the sortable nature of the USA Today database shows how stratified the highest levels of the Power 5 conferences get. Look close enough and, at least financially, you wonder how they got to 5.

The 13 public schools of the SEC (Vanderbilt isn’t listed since it isn’t subject to open records laws) all fall in the top 40 on the revenue chart. Nine of the top 20 are SEC schools.

Of the top 10, three came from the Big Ten, five from the SEC and two from the Big 12. Both of those Big 12 teams, however, are SEC-bound in Texas and Oklahoma. The next-highest revenue school from the Big 12 was Kansas at No. 35.

And the ACC?

Its top producer was Virginia at No. 14 while the Pac-12 was paced by Oregon at No. 19.

Do the math and the SEC’s eighth-highest revenue producer made more than the Pac-12′s top dog. Worth pointing out: USC, like Vanderbilt, isn’t on this list since it is also a private school. Notre Dame, too.

Also keep in mind the Big Ten and SEC will only further separate themselves with new television deals starting in the next two years. The Big Ten’s per-school TV revenue is expected to be in the $80-$100 million range — up from the mid-$50 millions — according to reporting from ESPN. That starts this year. The SEC’s exclusive deal with ESPN starts in 2024 with schools reportedly splitting $300 million annually but there’s room for renegotiation.

How much have these numbers grown already?

Just go back to the 2016 numbers for context when Texas A&M’s $194.4 million topped the revenue ranking with a $6.5 million cushion. Alabama’s income was $164 million while Auburn’s was $140.1 million.

Here’s some more context in bullet form:

  • Alabama’s media rights revenue of $53.6 million was more than 167 of the 232 departments surveyed.
  • South Alabama had the most revenue of non-SEC schools in the state with $39.1 million.
  • Of the Power 5 schools, Oregon State had the lowest revenue total at $83.5 million.
  • The top revenue producer from outside the Power 5 was UConn at No. 50 overall. The Big East school made $99 million but the database notes 55.9% of that came from the university or student fees. Those subsidies are often significant from schools in the Group of 5 and beyond. The Group of 5 school with the most revenue and less than 50% of that allocated was UNLV’s $64.2 million (43.4% allocated).
  • Cal State-Northridge had the highest percentage of allocated funds from the school at 93.6%. Alabama A&M’s was 90.4% of the $14.0 million of revenue.

The fiscal years surveyed by the NCAA financial reports run from July-June so this latest version included the 2021 football season.

Top revenue producers

  1. Ohio State, $251.6 million (Big Ten)
  2. Texas, $239.3 million (Big 12)*
  3. Alabama $214.4 million (SEC)
  4. Michigan, $210.7 million (Big Ten)
  5. Georgia, $203.0 million (SEC)
  6. LSU $199.3 million (SEC)
  7. Texas A&M $193.1 million (SEC)
  8. Florida, $190.4 million (SEC)
  9. Penn State $181.2 million (Big Ten)
  10. Oklahoma, $177.3 million (Big 12)*
  11. Auburn $174.6 million (SEC)
  12. Michigan State $172.8 million (Big Ten)

* Joining SEC in 2024

Other Alabama schools

  • 85. South Alabama, $39.1 million
  • 89. UAB, $38.4 million
  • 101. Troy, $33.4 million
  • 152. Jacksonville State, $20.3 million
  • 192. Alabama State, $14.6 million
  • 197. Alabama A&M 14.0 million
  • 198. North Alabama, $13.8 million

Source: USA Today