Big 12 Distributing $470 Million Of Revenue To Current Schools
May 31, 2024, 1:11 PM | Updated: 2:15 pm
The Big 12 Conference distribution for the 2023-24 year reached (Photo courtesy of Getty Images)
(Photo courtesy of Getty Images)
IRVING, Texas – The only year with a 14-team Big 12 Conference generated record revenue for the league.
On Friday, after the Big 12 Spring Business Meetings concluded, Commissioner Brett Yormark announced that the Big 12 is estimated to distribute $470 million to its 14 members for the 2023-24 athletic year.
The Big 12 Conference announced they are distributing $470 million to the 14 schools.
Newcomers BYU, UCF, Cincinnati, and Houston will receive $18 million each.#Big12
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) May 31, 2024
Big 12 Conference distributes $470 million for 2023-24 year
That’s a new record for the Big 12, surpassing last year’s $440 million.
Conference distributions comprise media rights, bowl game compensation, NCAA Tournament units from the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, and other factors.
Despite the record distribution, Yormark added there was some “dilution” for the legacy 10 conference members.
“Our 10 original members will see some dilution versus last year that has been previously reported,” said Yormark. “The reason for that, obviously, was the addition of the G5 schools, which was their first year.”
BYU will receive $18 million
Those additions Yormark is referencing are UCF, Cincinnati, and Houston, which were members of the American Athletic Conference before arriving in the Big 12. And BYU, who operated as an FBS Independent before the 2023-24 athletic year.
It was previously known that the newcomers would receive lower distributions for their first two years in the league. Beginning in 2025-26, those four institutions will receive full distributions.
The distribution to those four newcomers who were onboarded the past year will be receiving $18 million. Next year, that figure bumps up to $19 million.
That leaves an estimated $39.8 million per school for the legacy 10-member institutions, including Texas and Oklahoma, who will leave for the SEC on July 1.
It’s a drop from the $44 million the legacy members received for the 2022-23 year.
Despite a slight drop, the Big 12 has previously projected $50 million per school in distribution beginning in the 2025-26 year when their new media rights contract begins.
“We’ve discussed this before; we went with stability as a conference, and we felt it was investing in all the right ways and for all the right reasons. Clearly, that was the right move for this conference as we think about where we’re going.”
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.
