The Southeastern Conference received $840 million in total revenue in fiscal year 2024, according to its latest tax return—a drop from the $853 million reported the previous year. Nevertheless, the SEC paid out $808.4 million in distributions to its 16 teams. That comes out to an average of $52.5 million for each school besides Oklahoma and Texas, which received $27.5 million after joining the conference last July 1.
According to the SEC, its year-over-year decline in total revenue was primarily due to the conference not receiving Sugar Bowl money in FY24, as part of its arrangement with the College Football Playoff. The SEC’s latest return also does not account for the conference’s $3 billion, 10-year television deal with Disney, which was secured in December 2020 but only officially went into effect at the beginning of the current academic year.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, now in his ninth year at the helm, received $4.22 million in compensation, up from $3.55 million in FY23. Sankey signed a contract extension in July 2023 that will keep him on the job through 2028.
The SEC’s tax filing, which was obtained by Sportico, covers the tax year beginning on Sep. 1, 2023 and ending August 31, 2024, a period that saw familiar on-field success for the league—including a football national semifinal appearance by Alabama and South Carolina’s women’s basketball team winning an NCAA title—and dramatic shifts in the financial and legal landscape of college sports.
To that end, the SEC saw its legal bills grow from $2.81 million in FY23 to $4.33 in FY24, and its lobbying expenditures jump from $81,039 to $1.29 million.
