Financial documents from the public schools in the Pac-12 conference show that the conference’s revenue grew last year, although the numbers still don’t compare to the financials from the Big Ten and the SEC.
Pac-12 revenue grew to $488 million for fiscal year 2016, according to Jon Wilner of The Mercury News. While that’s an increase of almost $50 million from FY2015, the conference is still almost $200 million behind the SEC in total revenue.
Though total revenue was $488 million, very little of that was kept in the conference’s coffers. The Pac-12 reported $481 million in expenses, a figure that the Pac-12 was able to meet thanks to upticks in revenue from media rights contracts and football bowl game payments.
Part of the increase in expenses was a 14.3 percent boost in payouts to the Pac-12 member institutions. The Pac-12 paid out over 70 percent of its total revenue to the schools, around $28 million gross to each school. That’s an increase of about $3 million in gross payouts from FY2015.
While the $28 million gross payouts is a welcome addition to each school’s bank account, it compares poorly to what each school in the Big Ten got for FY2016. The payout for the 11 continuing Big Ten members for the past year was almost $35 million.
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A big part of the reason for the disparity between the Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC is the earning power of the conference television/streaming networks and other media rights payments. The SEC reported $420 million in revenue from these sources for FY2016. The Pac-12 Network supplied $128 million in FY2016, comparatively. While the Pac-12 does get revenue from other media sources, the differentiation in value between SEC media rights and Pac-12 media rights is stark.
Whether or not the Pac-12 will ever catch up to the Big Ten and SEC in earning power is debatable. It’s easy to make an argument that it won’t happen anytime soon. What’s most important for the Pac-12, its member schools and fans is that the brand is increasing in value. That fact will keep the conference relevant for years to come even if it lags behind other conferences in revenue.
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