Big 12 Distributes $35 Million to Schools for 2016-17 School Year

The Big 12 Conference, ladies and gentlemen, not dead yet. After passing out just under $30 million to each team in revenue this time last year, the league bumped that up nearly $5 million and handed out $34.8 million to each team (except Baylor) this time around.

Conference commissioner Bob Bowlsby reported this number at the Big 12’s summer meetings on Friday in Irving, Texas. The Big 12 is a year ahead in its announcing of fiscal year payouts which makes it look very strong compared to the other conferences (many conferences only recently announced FY 2016 numbers).

The other component that doesn’t get talked about here, though, is third tier rights. It’s a term that is complex and in the weeds, but think of third tier rights as the Longhorn Network. What is on the Longhorn Network? Olympic sports, a little hoops and one football game a year. Texas gets $15 million a year for its programming on the Longhorn Network (so nearly $50M total!).

The other four big boy conferences have their third tier rights included in conference distribution (i.e. the SEC and Big 10 Networks). The Big 12 told its schools, essentially, you’re on your own … good luck. That has been great for Texas (Longhorn Network). But it also hasn’t been that bad for other schools.

For Oklahoma State (and every other Big 12 school), these rights are packaged and distributed on an individual school basis through Fox Sports and/or other entities. While Texas gets $15 million a year, OSU is likely more in the $2-5M per year range.

However you look at it, OSU is pulling somewhere around $40 million a year for the digital distribution of its athletic programs as well as other things like bowl money and NCAA Tournament money. This is preposterous, and maybe it shines a brighter light on the future than we once thought.

Including 3rd tier rights, top Big 12 schools in media rights revenue past year: Texas $49.8 million, OU $40.8M, KU $39.8M, WVU $37.8M

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) June 2, 2017

“We negotiated good media agreements,” said Bowlsby. “We tried to run the conference as efficiently as possible. We made a little bit of money to distribute based on operational efficiencies this year. We were fortunate to have a higher than usual NCAA distribution, and that was all good. Our members trust one another. They work hard together. I really come out of this meeting very encouraged about the future.”

At the conclusion of @Big12Conference spring meetings, Commissioner @BobBowlsby discusses key points from the week with @AnnabelStephan. pic.twitter.com/JtSeq1Lfi7

— Big 12 Digital (@Big12DN) June 2, 2017

I think the Big 12 has a real chance to compete with the Pac-12 and ACC into the future as the Big 10 and SEC both run away and hide with monster TV deals. The ACC and Pac-12 both have massive distribution issues as it relates to their conference networks and third tier rights, and the Big 12 keeps posting big numbers in revenue.

Of course, so does everybody else. College athletics has never been more profitable or fiscally flush as it is in 2017. Just look at where revenue has gone from a half decade ago.

The ACC was the last of the five power conferences to release its new tax records. Altogether, those conferences reported just under $2.3 billion in revenue for fiscal 2016. That’s more than double the amount they totaled in fiscal 2012. [USA Today]

Amazing.

And the Big 12 — despite reporting a year ahead of everyone else — continues to hang in financially. The question is whether that will help its teams perform better in the long term on the field of play.