SEC to distribute $455 million to members

The Southeastern Conference will divvy up a record $455.8 million in distributions among its 14 member institutions, commissioner Mike Slive announced Friday as the SEC spring meetings wrapped up in Destin, Fla.

The $455.8 million, easily the highest in conference history, equates to roughly $31.2 million per school, an increase of 49.3 percent from last year’s distribution.

That money is generated from television agreements — including the SEC Network, a joint venture with ESPN that started last August — bowl games, including the new College Football Playoff, conference championship events for football and men’s basketball, NCAA championships and a supplemental surplus distribution.

The SEC received nearly $65.6 million in NCAA revenue distribution for the College Football Playoff in 2014-15, which is up significantly from the final year of the Bowl Championship Series when the conference received roughly $34.2 million in 2013-14.

That provided a net benefit of more than $2.2 million per school with the bulk of the remaining increase of more than $8 million presumably coming from the SEC Network.

The influx comes at a great time for Missouri and the rest of the SEC, which must find a way to pay for the full cost of attendance for all scholarship athletes beginning in August.

“This increased revenue is important for our athletics programs to continue to fully support broad-based athletics programs for both male and female student-athletes and to give them the opportunity to compete at the highest level, both in the classroom and in competition,” Slive said.

The distribution figure does not include a roughly $1 million payment from the NCAA for academic enhancement nor does it include local media and broadcast rights payments.

“The ability to provide a significant distribution of revenue is more critical than ever for our institutions as they offer more financial and educational benefits to current and former student-athletes,” Slive said.

Missouri received $20.9 million from the SEC distribution in 2014 and $20.7 million in 2013.

The Tigers didn’t receive any money from the Big 12 in 2012 after opting to bolt for the SEC, but their share was $13 million in 2011 and $9 million in 2010.

More notes from the SEC spring meetings:

— Slive also announced Friday that would step aside effective Monday and Greg Sankey would assume the post of SEC commissioner.

Originally, Slive, 74, was to remain in the commissioner’s role through July 31, but instead he’ll serve in an advisory role to Sankey through the end of contract.

Effective Aug. 1, Slive will begin a four-year period as a consultant for the SEC.

During Slive’s 13-year tenure, SEC teams won 81 national championship in 19 sports.

This story was originally published May 29, 2015 at 3:22 PM with the headline "SEC to distribute $455 million to members."