A Look at Local Media Money

Note: edited to be more precise and accurate.

We've all seen it. "The Big Ten schools get about $22 million a year, while SEC schools get about $17 million a year from TV."

Turns out it's not true exactly. From the major contracts and other normal income like BCS payouts and NCAA tournament money, yes, that's accurate. However, SEC schools get their to negotiate their own local TV rights, allowing schools to run up bigger revenues as best they can. Leather Helmet Blog managed to pull some figures together for the top of college football:

1-uga 92.8 million over 8 years for 11.6 per year--ISP sports
2-ohio state 110 million over 10 years for 11.0 per year--IMG
3-florida 100 million over 10 years for 10.0 per year--sun sports
4-alabama 85 million over 9 years for 9.44 per year.--ISP/learfield
5-texas 94 million over 10 years for 9.4 per year--IMG
6-nebraska 112.5 million over 13 years for 8.65 per year--IMG
7-tennessee 83.4 million over 10 years for 8.34 per year--IMG
8-uconn 80 million over 10 years for 8.0 per year--IMG
8t-kentucky 80 million over 10 years for 8.0 per year--IMG
10-north carolina 97.5 million over 13 years for 7.5 per year--learfield
11-lsu 7,45 per year
12-arkansas 7.3
13-michigan 7.16
14-arizona 6.7
15-oklahoma 6.33

All formatting is [sic]. Anyway, turns out that Georgia actually gets about $28 million a year from TV and everything else, not $17 million. Florida and Alabama aren't too far behind, and four other SEC schools are between seven and 15 nationally. The top of the SEC does make more than the bottom of the Big Ten, so consider that myth busted.

This makes up an under-reported dynamic of the duel between TV models. Big Ten schools have no game rebroadcast rights to sell, so that's why only two Big Ten schools are on that list. They can only sell coaches' shows and other ancillary content, so only the schools with the two most rabid fan bases rank highly. They have to share revenue from rebroadcasted games with everyone else in the conference. The bottom of the SEC doesn't get such a subsidy, while the top of the conference can negotiate lucrative deals with regional providers.