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SEC increased its revenue by $105 million in 2021, reaching a total of $833 million
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- SEC increased its revenue by $105 million in 2021, reaching a total of $833 million
While most sports-industry revenues substantially fell in late 2020 and early 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Southeastern Conference increased its annual revenue by $105 million during a year ending Aug. 31, 2021, the conference's new federal tax records show.
The document — provided by the conference on Thursday in response to a request from USA TODAY Sports — shows the SEC with total revenue of just over $833 million.
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The resulting distributions to its 14 member schools averaged about $54.6 million per school, an increase of just over $9 million per school compared to the distributions the conference reported for its 2020 fiscal year.
In addition, the SEC provided each of its schools with a $23.3 million advance on future conference distributions in fiscal 2021 as school athletics departments struggled through game cancellations and attendance restrictions that affected numerous income streams. The advance money came from a loan to the SEC that, according to the new document, was for $350 million from Truist. SEC spokesman Herb Vincent said in an email that Regions also is involved in the loan.
The SEC's revenue in fiscal 2020 was nearly identical to revenue in 2019 , and Vincent said in the email that the jump in 2021 was generally attributable the SEC feeling the greatest impact from the pandemic in fiscal 2020, "versus a limited impact in 2020-21."
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The SEC is the first of the Power Five conferences to release its tax records for fiscal 2021. But, according to documents obtained in January by NorthJersey.com and the USA Today Network New Jersey, the Big Ten Conference distributed $157 million less to its members in fiscal 2021 than it did the previous year . The Big Ten deducted $55.8 million from its distribution for COVID testing, according to the documents. Also, Big Ten television revenue likely was impacted by football game cancelations.
The Big Ten delayed the start of its 2020 football season and its schools ended up staging fewer football games than SEC schools did.
Nearly all of the SEC's revenue increase came in TV and radio rights fees, which rose to $588 million in 2021, from $497 million in 2020. In December 2020, the SEC made a new football and men's basketball television deal with ESPN that will begin with the 2024-25 school year. ESPN/ABC will pay the SEC "in the low $300 million range" annually, according to Sports Business Journal, a significant increase on the $55 million the league makes per year from its contract with CBS.
Vincent said in the email that the "increase in media rights reflects continued success of the SEC Network, expansion of the SEC's media rights agreements (and) contractual escalation of existing rights."
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The SEC's new tax return showed that commissioner Greg Sankey was credited with just under $3 million in total compensation for the 2020 calendar year, including $2.9 million in base compensation. During the 2019 calendar year, each of the other Power Five conference commissioners was credited with more than $4 million in total or annualized compensation (the Big Ten's Kevin Warren began working for the conference in mid-September 2019).
While the average per-school distribution for fiscal 2021 was about $54.6 million, three schools received notably different amounts: Mississippi received $61.9 million, LSU $50.5 million and Missouri $49.6 million.
Mississippi's shares in fiscal 2018 and 2019 had been cut because the football team had been banned from postseason play. The cut impacted all of Mississippi's share of money connected to the SEC championship game and the conference's bowl and College Football Playoff revenues. Half of the funds withheld from Mississippi were given to the other SEC schools and half were to be held in escrow and distributed to Mississippi if it did not have a major rules violation over a five-year period.
However, Vincent in the email Thursday said that the conference had released the escrowed money under a change in the SEC's bylaws. Now, schools under postseason bans in football or men's basketball still lose 50% of their share of the money connected to postseason play in the affected sport -- and that money goes to other SEC schools. But no money is placed in escrow. However, if a school is banned again within five years, it would lose all of the money connected to postseason play and all of that money would be distributed to other schools.
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LSU's and Missouri's distributions for fiscal 2021 were reduced because of recent postseason football bans, Vincent said.
The new tax record also showed that the SEC nearly doubled its lobbying spending in fiscal 2021 to just over $600,000 and more than quadrupled its legal expenses to nearly $4.4 million.
The return said the conference had lobbied federal and state officials regarding legislation related to athletes' use of their name, image and likeness (NIL). Prior to 2020, the conference had $0 in lobbying expenses in any year. Like other Power Five conferences, the SEC has ramped up lobbying amid increased legislative action on the NIL issue.
Vincent attributed the legal spending to "origination fees associated with loan from Truist and Regions as well as ongoing litigation."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Southeastern Conference revenue increased $105 million in 2021
