DALLAS — There was no shortage of reasons for Texas and Oklahoma to move to the Southeastern Conference this past year. But perhaps the biggest one of all was obvious: The money.
The SEC’s lucrative television contract with ESPN/ABC, which began last season, is delivering $300 million annually to college football’s top conference, a staggering figure that is then dispersed among the 16 member schools.
On Thursday, the SEC announced just how much of that cash was wired to Norman and Austin. Both Oklahoma and Texas received $27.5 million “resulting from transition payments derived from a combination of television agreement and refundable application fees,” the conference announced.
And here’s the apparent kicker: That’s not even a full revenue share.
Because the distribution covered the fiscal year ending in August 2024 — and Oklahoma and Texas joined the conference in July 2024 — they didn’t receive full revenue shares. The full revenue share received by the other 14 SEC schools was around $52.5 million.
Oklahoma and Texas will presumably receive full revenue share amounts next year after being in the conference for a full fiscal year. The revenue shares are a combination of revenue generated from the television contracts, postseason bowl games, the College Football Playoff, the SEC football championship game, the SEC men’s basketball tournament and other NCAA championships.
“As the entire college athletics enterprise works through significant change, SEC universities are uniquely positioned to provide new financial benefits for student-athletes while continuing to deliver transformative, life-changing college experiences,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said. “Beyond providing an exceptional, debt-free education, this experience includes world-class support in coaching, training, academic counseling, medical care, mental health support, nutrition, life-skills development and post-eligibility healthcare coverage for SEC student-athletes.”