BATON ROUGE — The Southeastern Conference's decision to add two new schools obviously had little to do with a dire need for more income.
The league announced Friday that it would be distributing a record $241.5 million among its 12 member institutions at $20.1 million apiece, excluding new members Missouri and Texas A&M as they cannot officially eat at the big table until after the 2012 football season begins. The total was $219.9 million a year ago.
The SEC has broken its own previous record of distribution every June since 1990, but this was the largest increase over the previous year in a non-new television contract sports year. The 2010 distribution total of $209 million from $132.5 million in 2009 was a 57.7 percent increase in the first year of the league's $2 billion, 15-year television contract signed in 2008. It went into effect with the 2009-10 seasons.
"The $241.5 million is the highest total ever distributed in SEC history and represents a 9.8 percent increase," SEC associate commissioner Charles Bloom said.
The league will have to distribute to two more schools for a total of 14 in 2013, but even more lucrative television contracts are likely on the horizon as the SEC has millions more televisions with the addition of the Missouri and Texas markets. SEC commissioner Mike Slive foresees continued increases in revenue distribution even with two more hands reaching into the pot.
The last time the SEC added two schools — South Carolina and Arkansas in 1992 for 12 teams and the formation of the SEC West and East divisions — the revenue distribution total jumped from $20.6 million in 1992 to $34.34 million in 1993. Just four years before in 1989, the SEC announced its last shortfall from the previous year — $13.85 million in 1989 after $14.34 million in 1988.
"We feel adding Texas A&M and Missouri has strengthened us in a lot of ways," Slive said. "But it certainly strengthened us in television."
The additions will also change the other 12 football teams' schedule beginning in 2013, but not nearly as dramatically as the LSU contingent of coach Les Miles, athletic director Joe Alleva and outgoing president Michael Martin had hoped. LSU was in the minority in its desire to rid the SEC of permanent East-West opponents like Georgia versus Auburn, Tennessee vs. Alabama and Florida vs. LSU.
The league announced Friday that it would be distributing a record $241.5 million among its 12 member institutions at $20.1 million apiece, excluding new members Missouri and Texas A&M as they cannot officially eat at the big table until after the 2012 football season begins. The total was $219.9 million a year ago.
The SEC has broken its own previous record of distribution every June since 1990, but this was the largest increase over the previous year in a non-new television contract sports year. The 2010 distribution total of $209 million from $132.5 million in 2009 was a 57.7 percent increase in the first year of the league's $2 billion, 15-year television contract signed in 2008. It went into effect with the 2009-10 seasons.
"The $241.5 million is the highest total ever distributed in SEC history and represents a 9.8 percent increase," SEC associate commissioner Charles Bloom said.
The league will have to distribute to two more schools for a total of 14 in 2013, but even more lucrative television contracts are likely on the horizon as the SEC has millions more televisions with the addition of the Missouri and Texas markets. SEC commissioner Mike Slive foresees continued increases in revenue distribution even with two more hands reaching into the pot.
The last time the SEC added two schools — South Carolina and Arkansas in 1992 for 12 teams and the formation of the SEC West and East divisions — the revenue distribution total jumped from $20.6 million in 1992 to $34.34 million in 1993. Just four years before in 1989, the SEC announced its last shortfall from the previous year — $13.85 million in 1989 after $14.34 million in 1988.
"We feel adding Texas A&M and Missouri has strengthened us in a lot of ways," Slive said. "But it certainly strengthened us in television."
The additions will also change the other 12 football teams' schedule beginning in 2013, but not nearly as dramatically as the LSU contingent of coach Les Miles, athletic director Joe Alleva and outgoing president Michael Martin had hoped. LSU was in the minority in its desire to rid the SEC of permanent East-West opponents like Georgia versus Auburn, Tennessee vs. Alabama and Florida vs. LSU.
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