Move over Big Ten and SEC. There’s a new revenue dog taking over.
The college athletics conference financial pecking order has received a jolt – the Pacific-12 Conference new federal tax return shows it had more revenue during the 2012-13 fiscal year than either the Big Ten or Southeastern Conference.
The Pac-12 reported $334 million in total revenue for a fiscal year ending June 30, 2013, the first that reflects the conference’s 12-year, $3 billion TV rights deals with ESPN and Fox; the debut of the wholly conference-owned Pac-12 Networks; and operations of the conference’s nascent marketing and media arm, Pac-12 Enterprises.
That total represents a $158.1 million increase in revenue over what the conference reported for the 2011-12 fiscal year and a more than tripling of the $111.8 million that the Pac-12 reported for 2010-11.
The Big Ten recently reported $318.4 million in total revenue for a fiscal year ending June 30, 2013. The SEC reported $314.5 million reported for a fiscal year that ended Aug. 31, 2013.
I imagine the Big Ten and SEC poobahs will give Delany and Slive a chance to match that. But if two or three years go by and that hasn’t happened, look for some more fan friendly moves to be made.
Get The Picture 
Always in favor of more fan friendly moves. That would be more exciting match ups, better tailgating atmosphere, and reasonable concession prices. That would not be more band width in the stadium or ear blasting music played from the scoreboard. However, what do you think we’re going to get?
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More conference expansion, with all that that entails.
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And higher ticket prices to raise revenue to match. #mcgeconomics
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Where does the the SEC expand? The only thing I see would be a move east to the Tar Heel State. I just don’t see where another round of expansion comes from without diluting the SEC’s brand as a SOUTHEASTERN league. At this point, I don’t see any of the NC or VA schools joining with the SEC because the ACC shored itself up with the addition of Notre Dame as a partial member, Pitt, Syracuse, and Louisville. Miami, FSU, Clemson, and Georgia Tech add nothing to the TV package.
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I think NC State is a possible target for SEC expansion and would add some good sized markets. NC State, and their fans are more football oriented than BB based on my time of living in NC. Not saying it will happen, but it makes some sense.
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Macallan, I live up here and the NC State fans would be a good addition (they should have been the 2nd target 3 years ago, but I digress). I know a lot of State fans, and they know they would be in over their heads in the SEC. They still have more hoops tradition than football by a long shot and would probably be a factor immediately in SEC hoops. The problem is that they don’t have the pull politically in North Carolina to separate from UNC, and I don’t think UNC would leave the ACC and Duke behind.
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Another men’s room on the upperdeck/southwest side?
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I doubt Slive is worried since the SEC Network won’t be around for a full Fiscal Year until annual reports are due in calendar-year 2015. If the SEC is already in the neighborhood of the B1G & Pac-12 financially w/o a network, then it seems to me like the SEC is in the best shape out of those 3.
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And the O’Bannon lawyers say AMEN. How can anybody who knows anything about the Anti-trust laws in this country think that the colleges through there association (NCAA) do not collude to keep labor costs down. It is the main base upon which the sport is built.
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