SEC announces another record revenue distribution to members, including UK
The SEC announced Thursday that $777.8 million in total revenue was divided among the league’s 14 schools for the 2020-21 fiscal year, which ended Aug. 31, 2021. The average distribution for members, including the University of Kentucky, was $54.6 million.
According to the conference, $764.4 million was distributed directly from the league office. An additional $13.4 million was retained by universities that participated in 2020-21 football bowl games to offset travel and expenses.
The league distributed an average of $45.5 million to each school from total revenue of $657.7 million in fiscal year 2019-20.
“The commitment of the SEC’s 14 universities to provide an impactful and lasting student-athlete experience is enhanced exponentially by the substantial revenue distributed through the Southeastern Conference,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said. “As a direct result of this distribution, SEC universities provide their student-athletes exceptional instruction, training, equipment, academic counseling, medical care, mental health and wellness support and life-skill development that is unmatched in intercollegiate athletics.”
The distribution amount comes from television agreements, postseason bowl games, the College Football Playoff, the SEC football championship game, the SEC men’s basketball tournament, NCAA championships and a supplemental surplus distribution.
Last year, the SEC made a one-time supplement of approximately $23 million to each school to help mitigate the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. That number was not included in the revenue numbers announced Thursday.
For the fiscal year 2019-20, which ended June 30, 2020, UK Athletics generated $146,150,480, according to documents filed with the NCAA. That amount was down 2.84% from the $150,435,842 generated in the 2018-19 fiscal year. Thanks to lower expenses, the department still generated a $5,571,857 profit, a 0.4 percent increase from fiscal year 2019.
This story was originally published February 10, 2022 at 7:17 PM.
