SEC Had Higher than Estimated Record Payout in 2010-11

The numbers are in from the SEC's 2010-11 athletic year, and the average payout to the schools was higher than expected.

According to an IRS filing obtained by Jon Solomon of the Birmingham News, the SEC distributed an average of $19.5 million to each institution. That's about 6.5% higher than the $18.3 million estimate that Mike Slive announced last summer. Because the conference likes to keep the payouts egalitarian, the difference between the highest and lowest sums was less than $300,000. That's the kind of equal revenue sharing that helped interest Texas A&M and Missouri in conference membership.

Importantly, the SEC's revenue from television rose about three percent year-over-year. That's not a huge amount, but it does show that the league's current deals don't guarantee static payments every year. Of course, the real action will come when Slive and the lawyers sit down at the negotiating table to expand the deals with CBS and ESPN in light of conference expansion. I don't know how much extra the league will have to get in order for most everyone to agree that bringing in TAMU and Mizzou was "worth it", but it would be a disappointment if it's not in the neighborhood of the Pac-12's monster deal.