For as long as college football fans can remember, the SEC has prided itself on being the top dog.
The phrase “It just means more” wasn’t just marketing—it's how the entire Southeastern Conference carried itself. In football, that included national titles, Heisman winners, and NFL Draft picks. But this week, a new truth dropped: the Big Ten just passed the SEC in total revenue for the 2024 fiscal year. And not by a little bit.
According to financial records revealed this week, the Big Ten brought in a whopping $928 million in revenue—beating out the SEC, which collected $840 million. That’s an $88 million difference. And even more concerning for the SEC, projections show the Big Ten is on track to crack somewhere between $1.2 and $1.4 billion in 2025, thanks to its new TV deals and expanded membership.
If you’re an SEC fan, this is the kind of news that makes your blood boil. For decades, your conference has been the gold standard, both competitively and culturally. Now? It’s looking like the Big Ten has stolen the financial crown, and the conference also boasts the last two national title winners.
The payout gap is too big to ignore
It’s not just that the Big Ten made more money—it’s how they spread it around. The 12 longest-standing schools in the Big Ten each received $63.2 million. Even Maryland and Rutgers, often considered the least valuable programs in the conference, each received more than $61 million. The SEC, on the other hand, distributed $52.5 million to its 14 longest-standing schools. And for the newcomers—Texas and Oklahoma—that payout dropped to just $27.5 million, which includes refundable fees and transition payments funded by ESPN.
This gap is massive. Over $10 million per school could be the difference between upgrading facilities and falling behind in recruiting. In today’s arms race era of college football, that disparity is something that the SEC shouldn't ignore.
And it’s not a one-year fluke. The Big Ten’s TV contracts with Fox, NBC, and CBS are just beginning to bear fruit. USC and UCLA are already set to receive full shares in 2025, while Oregon and Washington will gradually ramp up to full shares over the next several years. Once everything clicks into place, nearly every Big Ten school could be pulling in around $75 million a year.
We all know that, for better or worse, college football has become about money over everything else. That's one of the major reasons the ACC and Big 12 are seemingly falling behind and the long-term viability of those leagues are look less and less promising.
While the SEC has nothing to worry about in the long-term as far as still being around, it should be concerning to fans who are hoping to see their teams compete at the top with the Big Ten in years to come.