The SEC remains king in the world of college football, and possibly all of sports. And if the fact that the conference has won 12 national football titles since 2006 isn’t proof enough, the money should be.
According to Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger, the SEC has announced that it is distributing $777.8 million to its member schools. At over $54 million per school, the payout is reportedly $10 million MORE than it was last year.
Dellenger also reported that the sum doesn’t even account for the extra $23 million that the schools received this past year to help mitigate the impact of COVID-19. In total, the SEC schools are each getting over $75 million.
To put into perspective just how big a payday that is, Dellenger pointed out that only 53 schools that participate in FBS have an entire athletics department budget of $77 million or more.
As you can imagine, fans can’t help but laugh at how obscenely wealthy the SEC is – or the appeal of wanting to join them, as Oklahoma and Texas are:
It just means more 🤷 https://t.co/4mB1m1Dn3R pic.twitter.com/ZQrr83uW8l
— The Jordy Culotta Show (@CulottaShow) February 10, 2022
And bowlsby is still trying figure why OU and Texas are leaving the Big 12 🤡 https://t.co/MrfxlUZsmr
— Kenneth Mason (@KenJMason) February 10, 2022
Me when other Big 12 programs make fun of OU going to the SEC https://t.co/sWyRM4eL6j pic.twitter.com/mjVfKgZBdi
— OutlawEsUnGringo (@Outlaw4177) February 10, 2022
Still others believe that the obscene amount of money they’re making should be further reason for the SEC to start paying student-athletes a salary:
There are almost 500 student athletes at Ole Miss. If you took half of this amount, you could pay each one a 50k salary for the work they do for the university. https://t.co/s7WHMbFwjV
— Tinker, Tailor, Black Bear, Landshark (@TwoYdsandaCloud) February 10, 2022
Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper SEC jokefest without ribbing Vanderbilt a little bit:
Vanderbilt pulling off the ultimate “A on the group project you did nothing for” move here. https://t.co/Ssw0TcFlqS
— Matthew Johnston (@MagicMatty22) February 10, 2022
The investment is clearly paying off though. In the past decade the SEC has won titles in far more than just college football and men’s basketball.
Since 2014, Vanderbilt, Florida and Mississippi State have all won their first national titles in baseball. South Carolina just won its first title in women’s basketball. Alabama, LSU and Ole Miss are thriving in golf.
The SEC is making money hand over fist right now. And they’re only going to make more once Oklahoma and Texas join the fold.
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