The annual influx of funds to SEC athletic departments has arrived, and each of the 14 schools are eagerly awaiting the clearance of the check and the notification of another substantial payday in their bank accounts.
After a slight decline in the 2022 fiscal year, the SEC will distribute $741 million among its member institutions. That amounts to an average of $51.3 million per school. These fresh deposits come after reports that the SEC generated $802 million in 2022, but it’s unlikely that those outside of Big Ten territory are sympathetic towards arguably one of the top conferences in college football.
The ones who should feel aggrieved are the athletes who entertain us on the football field, basketball court, baseball diamond, and softball field. Every day, there is a new debate about whether players should receive a share of the revenue. While football and basketball attract the most attention, let’s not overlook the entertainment provided by other sports in the past year.
However, one of the major issues that schools are currently facing is NIL, which has been the most discussed topic in college sports over the past three years. Currently, the NCAA and member institutions are attempting to solve a problem that would make Oppenheimer blush.
“It’s intriguing, during the last recruiting cycle, I had multiple players ask me when they would start receiving royalties from television revenue,” shared a prominent NIL agent. “If a player is the central focus of an ESPN or FOX broadcast, there will come a time when these athletes will want a portion of that revenue. Given everything we’ve witnessed regarding NIL in the past three years, it feels like the next logical step. Some schools are recognizing this and exploring different ways to incorporate a player’s likeness into a broadcast.”
Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders after the USC loss
Ultimately, these athletes are well aware of the substantial profits that schools across the country earn from lucrative television and marketing deals. In the long run, if players were classified as school employees, it could lead to intense discussions about how they can obtain a share of the revenue.
“Look at what Caitlin Clark is accomplishing in women’s basketball, or someone like Angel Reese,” the NIL agent stated. “There’s a reason why FOX has chosen to broadcast her game on the network this Sunday. It’s either perfect timing or the network knew they could profit from viewers glued to their televisions on Super Bowl Sunday. Without Caitlin and Iowa basketball, FOX wouldn’t air that type of game on the main network as a lead-in to the biggest football game of the year.
“Besides Clark, take a look at the attention LSU and South Carolina women’s basketball are receiving on ESPN. Granted, it’s due to Dawn Staley and Kim Mulkey, but the players are driving this attention. For an easy example, consider all the reporters who benefitted from Angel Reese’s absence earlier in the season. The network capitalized on it, and websites gained clicks by generating stories about the situation. So, let’s not pretend that these players don’t deserve a share.”
The long-awaited transformation in college football coverage has finally arrived, with the SEC and Big Ten capitalizing on new television agreements this summer. Now that the SEC has fulfilled its obligations to CBS, who were essentially taking advantage of the conference with an outdated television contract, the shift to ESPN is imminent.
According to a report from USA Today, the SEC could generate approximately $1 billion in revenue during the 2024-25 fiscal year. The addition of Texas and Oklahoma to the conference will undoubtedly boost revenue, with a contract set to begin with ESPN on September 1, 2024.
After the Big Ten announced their seven-year, $8 billion contract with FOX, NBC, and CBS in 2022, we finally witnessed the product on the field this past season. Although it felt strange to see Big Ten games on CBS, the conference is profiting from the three-network deal, which surpasses the SEC’s new ESPN agreement in terms of revenue.
While all of this is nothing new in the sports world, it is the ongoing discussions surrounding NIL that could potentially revolutionize the game for student-athletes. Congress likes to grandstand and pretend that they want to be involved in the ongoing debate on NIL, but it’s merely a publicity stunt at this point, especially with an upcoming election.
So spare me the nonsense of congress members advocating for the players while pushing their agenda on Capitol Hill. The NCAA is caught in a difficult situation, and they are hoping that congress is intelligent enough to help facilitate a way to navigate NIL discussions.
Here’s some news for you. The majority of individuals in Washington couldn’t care less about whether a student-athlete receives a share of the revenue; it’s all for show.
Therefore, as we continue to hear about the various ways athletes can benefit from NIL and how it has become the ‘Wild West’, these conferences will continue to receive substantial checks from television networks.
To those who still argue that these students should not receive their own share of the revenue, as they watch them on CBS, ESPN, NBC, and FOX, while websites continue to manufacture drama to increase their click counts, I wish them good luck.
There is more than enough money to go around, so just give them their fair share.
According to the Source outkick.com