SEC Football Realignment: Texas, Oklahoma changing the national landscape

Reports came out that Oklahoma and Texas have made serious inquires into joining SEC football. If both schools were to join the SEC in the near future, the conference would be far and beyond, the most powerful conference in America with the Big Ten being a distant No. 2.

However, much can happen in the next coming weeks and or months and there are other moves that can be made by the other four Power Five conferences to remain relevant and competitive with the SEC. The likelihood however is that one of the Power Five conferences will either completely disband or will no longer be considered a power conference.

Astonishing and somewhat surprising, college football realignment discussion is being seriously considered and there are four distinct and clear key factors away from the field of play that come into the scope of major conference realignment.

• The total money revenue that the university brings in through its athletic department and its overall financial outlook moving forward.
• The opportunity for the university to greatly expand the TV and streaming market in higher populated areas for a conference.
• The university expanding the geographic footprint of the conference in possible areas that the conference is not currently in.
• The overall academic standing and integrity of the university and an example of this are if the school is a member of the Association of American Universities or their overall academic rankings in the U.S. News & World Report national rankings.

Let’s first take a look at what appears to be the most important factor of the four listed above.

According to Pennlive.com and their latest report and their in-depth look into the annual university athletic department figures for the 2019-20 fiscal year, here are the current top five revenue-producing schools for the five current power college conferences.

Top five revenue schools currently in the Big Ten (According to the Pennlive.com report)

• No. 3 Michigan at $125.8 million
• No. 4 Ohio State at $115.5 million
• No. 7 Penn State at $101.7 million
• No.10 Nebraska at $95.8 million
• No.15 Wisconsin at $87.4 million

Top five revenue schools currently in the Big 12  (According to the Pennlive.com report)

• No. 1 Texas at $144.4 million
• No. 6 Oklahoma at $101.9 million
• No. 27 Texas Christian at $61.2 million
• No. 30 Baylor at $56.6 million
• No. 32 Oklahoma State at $53.5 million

Top five revenue schools currently in the ACC  (According to the Pennlive.com report)

• No. 8 Notre Dame at $97.9 million (Full-fledged member in 2020, all sports besides football in 2021)
• No.19 Florida State at $71.1 million
• No. 24 Clemson at $63.1 million
• No. 29 Miami (FL) at $59.5 million
• No. 38 Virginia Tech at $50.3 million

Top five revenue schools currently in the Pac-12  (According to the Pennlive.com report)

• No.13 Washington at $91.7 million
• No.18 Oregon at $77.6 million
• No. 25 Utah at $62.6 million
• No. 33 Southern California at $53.4 million
• No. 37 Colorado at $50.5 million

Top five revenue schools currently in the SEC  (According to the Pennlive.com report)

• No. 2 Georgia at $134.5 million
• No. 5 Alabama at $110.1 million
• No. 9 Auburn at $97.7 million
• No. 11 Louisiana State at $95.1 million
• No. 12 Florida at $94.9 million

Let’s now take a look at the other factors that will be considered when conferences are thinking about adding schools to their conference.