SEC reveals massive payouts to schools for 2020-21 fiscal year

Fiscal year 2020-21 was a good one for the SEC.

The league totaled $777.8 million in revenue and divided that among the conference’s 14 schools, the SEC announced Thursday. All told, more than $54.6 million went to each school, according to the league. Even during a pandemic year, revenue went up nearly $105 million and each school got roughly $9 million more than they did in fiscal year 2019-20, according to USA Today’s Steve Berkowitz.

“The commitment of the SEC’s 14 universities to provide an impactful and lasting student-athlete experience is enhanced exponentially by the substantial revenue distributed through the Southeastern Conference,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement. “As a direct result of this distribution, SEC universities provide their student-athletes exceptional instruction, training, equipment, academic counseling, medical care, mental health and wellness support and life-skill development that is unmatched in intercollegiate athletics.”

The total breaks down into $764.4 million from the league office and $13.4 million more to schools who played in bowl games in 2020-21. The latter figure helped cover travel and other expenses related to the bowl games. But that doesn’t account for the $23 million the league gave the schools to help with COVID-19-related losses, according to Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger.

All told, SEC schools received roughly $77 million over the last year. To put that in perspective, 53 FBS schools have total athletic budgets of $77 million, Dellenger tweeted.

“SEC athletics programs often contribute in unique and significant ways to the academic missions of their universities as a result of athletics-generated revenues,” Sankey stated. “Past examples of the impact of this revenue have included assistance in construction and renovation of academic facilities, financial support of academic scholarships, funding of academic programs and direct transfers of funds to support academic budgets.”

The SEC had another strong bowl showing during the 2021-22 season, competing in 13 bowl games. The league went 6-8 in bowl action, but saw two teams — Georgia and Alabama — make the College Football Playoff national championship. Georgia defeated Alabama 33-17 in Indianapolis to win its first national title in 41 years.