Big Ten revenue reached more than $928 million for 2024 fiscal year
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Big Ten vs. SEC PART 2: Which powerhouse conference is better? | Before The Snap
Part two of pitting the Big Ten against the SEC, Tony Garcia and Blake Toppmeyer join Before The Snap for a fan-focused look at which conference is better.
The Big Ten Conference had just over $928 million in total revenue and distributed about $63.2 million to each of its 12 longest-standing schools during its 2024 fiscal year, the conference's newly released federal tax records show.
Those figures represent a 5.5% increase in total revenue and a 4.5% increase in per-school payouts compared to those for fiscal 2023 due to the beginning of new television agreements.
However, the new records, along with documents and data released by three Big Ten member schools in recent years strongly indicate that the conference's revenue for its ongoing 2025 fiscal year will increase to somewhere between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion, with the new TV deals taking full effect and the additions of UCLA, Southern California, Oregon and Washington increasing its membership to 18 schools. The Big Ten's document was provided by the conference on May 6 in response to a request from USA TODAY Sports.
The Big Ten's per-school distributions for fiscal 2025 seem likely to be around $75 million for all except Oregon and Washington, whose shares are being phased in over seven years.
All of this keeps – and, at least for now, stands to continue keeping – the Big Ten ahead of the now-16-school Southeastern Conference in terms of total revenue and per-school payouts. The SEC released tax records in February that showed $840 million in total revenue and average per-school distributions of about $52.5 million to the 14 schools other than newcomers Oklahoma and Texas. The SEC also is on a path toward at least $1 billion in total revenue for its 2024-25 fiscal year.
For comparison, the NCAA reported $1.38 billion in total revenue for fiscal 2024 on its most recent audited financial statement.
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Payments to former Big Ten commissioners Kevin Warren, Jim Delany
The Big Ten's new tax return also showed that now-former commissioner Kevin Warren received a $5.75 million bonus during the 2023 calendar year. He departed in mid-April of that year to become the Chicago Bears' president and CEO. (IRS reporting rules require disclosure of pay data on a calendar-year basis, rather than a fiscal-year basis.)
Warren, who started with the Big Ten in September 2019, was credited with just over $6.8 million in total compensation for 2023. That included nearly $1.1 million categorized as base compensation, which works out to an annualized total of nearly $2.9 million.
The bonus was awarded by the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors 'for his accomplishments over his full tenure as commissioner, including his contributions to the new TV rights deal,' a conference spokesperson said.
Warren's time as commissioner included:
- The COVID-19 pandemic, which heavily impacted the 2020-21 school year. Warren became a center of controversy when the conference initially announced it would not play football in fall 2020 but reversed course after other conferences decided to play.
- The conference's announcement in the summer of 2022 that it was adding UCLA and USC, starting in July 2024.
- Negotiation of seven-year TV contracts with CBS, Fox and NBC that were announced in August 2022, and widely reported at that time to be worth more than $7 billion. (The conference made agreements in August 2023 to add Oregon and Washington.)
While standing as an additional payment for his roughly 3½ years on the job, Warren's bonus stands as one of the largest such payments in college sports since USA TODAY Sports began tracking pay of coaches and administrators in 2006, not including retention payments in which coaches became vested annually but were not due to be actually paid until the end of a fixed period or unless the coach was fired without cause.
In July 2015, then-Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany became eligible for more than $20 million in bonus payments, based on estimated present value at that time, that he began receiving in 2018. (In 2023, according to the new return, Delany was credited with a net total of nearly $3.05 million that represented the sixth year's worth of these payments that the conference says he will be receiving over a 10-year span, ending in 2027. So far Delany has received about $18 million worth of these payments. In addition, during the 2023-24 fiscal year, Delany Advisory Inc., received $400,000 for what the new tax record described as consulting services.)
Big Ten current commissioner Tony Petitti salary
Tony Petitti's started his role as the conference's commissioner at the beginning of May 2023, so he was on the payroll for eight months and ended up being credited with total compensation of $2.65 million.
According to the new return, the compensation included a $500,000 bonus and pro-rated base pay that, if annualized, was about $3.2 million.
Big Ten revenue projections for 2025 and beyond
While the Big Ten started the new television agreements during a fiscal year that ended June 30, 2024, it did not immediately see the full revenue impact because CBS was still committed to broadcasting SEC games during the 2023 football season. That changed this past season, as did the Big Ten's membership. So, the conference's fiscal-year 2025 revenue will increase dramatically.
Iowa state board of regents budget documents from this past July show that the University of Iowa was projecting $75.2 million in 'Athletic Conference' revenue for fiscal 2025.
A University of Wisconsin athletics department budget presentation to a university athletic board committee meeting three weeks ago projected 'Conference' revenue of $74.7 million for fiscal 2025 and just under $82.6 million for fiscal 2026, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
The Big Ten generally provides its longest standing members with equal amounts. When Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers, respectively, joined the conference, their shares were scaled up to full amounts over a period of years. UCLA and Southern California, however, are scheduled to receive full shares immediately while, according to an Oregon athletics budget document for fiscal 2025, Oregon projects $54 million in 'NCAA/Big Ten' revenue. (Another Oregon document from September 2023 said the Big Ten's 'media deal with Fox, NBC and CBS will pay both UO and University of Washington each an average of $32.5 million a year for the first six years and that amount should more than double when the two schools receive a full share of Big Ten media rights revenues beginning in the 7th year.' But that TV revenue will be supplemented by money from other Big Ten sources such as the College Football Playoff and Big Ten championships.)
Even using slightly lower amounts as benchmarks — $70 million to each of 16 schools and $50 million apiece to Oregon and Washington, that projects to a little more than $1.2 billion in total Big Ten distributions for fiscal 2025. And, in recent years, the conference has passed on to its schools about 95% of total revenue. That would put its total revenue for fiscal 2025 at just under $1.3 billion.
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