How the Big 12 and Pac-12 stacked up in revenue distribution for the 2022 fiscal year

Brandon Judd
·4 min read
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The Big 12 totaled $480.6 million in revenue for the 2022 fiscal year, according to USA Today’s Steve Berkowitz.
The Big 12 totaled $480.6 million in revenue for the 2022 fiscal year, according to USA Today’s Steve Berkowitz. | Ron Jenkins, Associated Press

The financial numbers for the 2022 fiscal year are in for each of the Power Five collegiate athletic conferences, thanks to a report from the USA Today’s Steve Berkowitz.

In one metric — revenue distribution per school — the latest numbers show the Big 12 in the middle of the Power 5 leagues, with the Pac-12 coming in fifth.

Here’s what each Power 5 conference distributed to its league members in revenue for the latest fiscal year, according to Berkowitz:

  • Big Ten: $58.8 million.

  • SEC: $49.9 million.

  • Big 12: $42-$44.9 million.

  • ACC: $37.9-$41.3 million.

  • Pac-12: $37 million.

The Big 12’s 2022 fiscal year details and what the future holds

The Big 12 totaled $480.6 million in revenue for the 2022 fiscal year, according to Berkowitz, which was fifth among Power Five leagues, but the conference has a greater per-school distribution than both the ACC and Pac-12 with only 10 current conference members.

“The question going forward is what these will look like for the conference’s eight continuing schools as Brigham Young, Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston join on July 1, and Oklahoma and Texas depart for the SEC as of July 1, 2024, which is one year earlier than originally planned,” Berkowitz wrote.

The Big 12’s total revenue increased by over $124 million from the 2021 fiscal year, when it decreased by $53 million amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, per Berkowitz.

Berkowitz also noted that the four incoming schools will not receive full revenue distributions at first — rather, those schools have multi-year ramp-ups to full distribution, according to Big 12 spokesman Bob Burda.

The Big 12’s current media rights deal runs through the 2024-25 season.

Last fall, the conference agreed to a new six-year media rights agreement with ESPN and Fox Sports worth nearly $2.3 billion, as the Deseret News previously reported.

Once Texas and Oklahoma leave the Big 12, each school would receive $31.6 million per year from the new agreement, with the possibility of revenue distribution reaching more than $50 million per year when College Football Playoff and NCAA revenue shares are factored in.

The Pac-12 reported it totaled a record $580.9 million in revenue during fiscal year 2022. | Ralph Freso, Associated Press
The Pac-12 reported it totaled a record $580.9 million in revenue during fiscal year 2022. | Ralph Freso, Associated Press

The Pac-12’s 2022 fiscal year details and what the future holds

The Pac-12 announced Friday that it totaled a record $580.9 million in revenue during fiscal year 2022 — fourth among the Power Five conferences.

Berkowitz reported that the conference anticipates filing an amended return for 2022 to account for “a possible restatement.”

“This is connected to overpayments totaling more than $50 million that Comcast made over a period of at least five years to the conference-owned Pac-12 Networks, according to a conference spokesman, a previous statement from the conference and a wrongful-termination suit filed by two former Pac-12 executives who were fired in January after the overpayments were discovered,” Berkowitz wrote.

The league saw a sizable increase in revenue from the previous year: there was a $237 million increase in 2022 compared to fiscal year 2021, when the Pac-12 had a $190 million decrease amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Berkowitz reported.

Like the Big 12, the Pac-12 will also be losing key programs in the future — UCLA and USC are scheduled to leave for the Big Ten in 2024.

With all this going on, the Pac-12 is also currently negotiating a new media rights deal. Their current agreement runs through 2024.

“The future appears challenging, with Southern California and UCLA leaving after the upcoming season, no new TV deal announced yet and the Comcast overpayment issues,” Berkowitz wrote.

What about the other Power Five conferences?

Here’s how the other three Power Five leagues fared financially in fiscal year 2022, according to Berkowitz’s reporting:

  • The Big Ten brought in the most total revenue at $845.6 million, to go along with the highest per-school distribution, nearly $9 million more per school than the next-closest conference.

  • The SEC was second in total revenue at $802 million to go along with being second in per-school distribution.

  • The ACC totaled $617 million in revenue, third among the Power Five leagues, but was fourth in per-school distribution.