BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Southeastern Conference distributed an average of almost $52.6 million to the 14 full-year members for the 2023-24 season in a slight increase from the previous year, according to its tax filing.
The league announced its revenue figures and released its tax filing Thursday for the fiscal year that ended in August, which included Oklahoma and Texas joining the league in July to expand the SEC to 16 schools. The Sooners and Longhorns each received $27.5 million in what the league described in a news release as “transition payments,” accounting for a mix of TV agreements and refundable application fees from a previous fiscal year.
Overall, the league reported a slight dip in total revenue, going from about $852.6 million for the 2022-23 season to $839.7 million for 2023-24. Yet the league distributed more money to its full-year members, going from reporting about $718 million for 2022-23 to $790.7 million for 2023-24 when factoring in the partial amounts for Oklahoma and Texas.
That doesn’t reflect what the arrival of the former Big 12 programs will mean to the SEC in the coming years.
As a result, the league’s average full-member payout increased from about $51.3 million for 14 schools for 2022-23. It also marked the third time in four seasons that the league’s full-member payout had averaged better than $50 million, with a peak of $54.6 million for the 2020-21 season.
The league also saw an increase in its deal tied to TV and radio rights, going from about $544.4 million in 2022-23 to nearly $563 million in 2023-24. The SEC’s deal is with ESPN and includes the creation of the SEC Network.
When looking at the most recent tax filings produced by other power conferences, the SEC’s 2023-24 average would trail only the Big Ten, which reported total revenues of $845.6 million with an average payout of $58 million to full members for 2021-22, followed by $879.9 million and $60.3 million for 2022-23.
The tax filing also showed commissioner Greg Sankey made more than $4.2 million in compensation, as well as more than $68,000 in additional compensation from the SEC and related organizations. That was up from about $3.6 million and more than $63,000 in 2022-23.