Big Ten Conference Dominating On And Off Field, With Massive Revenue Increase
The Big Ten Conference won the 2025 National Championship game, its second in a row, and according to its latest financial results, it's winning the off-the-field battle too.
Per the conference's latest federal tax records, it took in a whopping $928 million in revenue in the 2024 fiscal year, a significant increase over 2023. Thanks to new television agreements, the Big Ten also distributed a massive $63.2 million to each of the 12 schools that previously made up the conference.
That amounts to a 5.5 percent increase in revenue, as well as a 4.5 percent increase in the distribution going to each school from the 2023 season.
And revenue is expected to get only higher and higher as the benefit of expansion and realignment kicks into high gear.
(Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
Big Ten Conference Revenues Going Even Higher Thanks To New TV Deals
For the 2025 fiscal year, the Big Ten is expected to bring in an estimated $1.2 to $1.4 billion, thanks to the impact of the realignment wave. Adding USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington allowed the conference to renegotiate television deals and bring in substantially more income.
That level of overall revenue means that each member school is expected to receive around $75 million in distributions, though Oregon and Washington will receive less for several more years under their prorated agreement.
These figures put the Big Ten squarely ahead of the SEC, which reported around $850 million in revenue in 2024, with a significantly lower per-school distribution. The SEC too will see an increase, crossing $1 billion by the 2025 fiscal year thanks to the addition of Texas and Oklahoma.
The SEC also has an offer on the table to add another $70 million in estimated revenue thanks to ESPN pushing for a ninth conference game. More conference games, more marquee matchups, more television revenue.
This is why realignment and conference adjustments aren't likely to stop anytime soon. College football remains one of the biggest television draws in the country, and the more often networks can feature games with big-name teams facing each other, the better.
Whether that means even larger super conferences, or the elimination of conferences entirely remains to be seen. There's almost certainly more potential revenue out there.