Things are moving quickly in Texas and Oklahoma’s crusade to join the SEC. Money is a big factor in the two schools trying to join the toughest football conference in America and USA Today reports that a 16-team SEC could outearn the NCAA in total revenue by 2025.
The publication poured through documents and discussed with industry experts to conclude the league could make close to $1.3 billion in annual revenue by the 2024-25 school year. That figure is right around where the NCAA projects to be if payment’s for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament increase to $990 million per year as expected in 2025.
The University of Texas and Oklahoma face a roughly $80 million penalty if they leave the Big 12 before that school year. Yet, these financial incentives could wipe that penalty away and still fill up each school’s coffers.
The NCAA made $1.12 billion in revenue during 2018-19, the most recently reported year. USA Today factored in inflation and came up with a 3% annual growth rate for the NCAA. That would put their 2024-25 revenue at $1.28 billion for 2024-25.
On the SEC side of things, USA Today factored in inflation and growth rate to come up with $1.081 billion in revenue for 2024-25. This figure is a substantial jump from their 2019-20 revenue of $729 million. All of this before factoring in an expanded College Football Playoff and the additions of Oklahoma and Texas.
USA Today expects the expansion to add $100 million of revenue annually to the SEC. The Power Five conferences currently receive base amounts of about $67 million, according to figures on the CFP’s website. Those are expected to increase to $167 million under a 12-team format.
Add the two schools as the cherry on top, and the SEC’s 2024-25 revenue could be $1.301 billion, a hair above the NCAA. USA Today estimated the two schools to add about $60 million in annual revenue each for the SEC. Check out the full breakdown of these figures from USA Today here.