The final business year for the Power Five conferences, as college sports fans have come to know them, was not exactly business as usual. With schools’ affiliations already beginning to change, and various legal entanglements going on, three of the five conferences reported declines in total revenue on their federal tax records for their 2024 fiscal years – and the Power Five’s combined total revenue very narrowly declined.
That’s far from a cause for alarm, but it is the first such year-over-year decrease in a non-pandemic-affected year since USA TODAY Sports began compiling these records by obtaining data reaching back to fiscal 2011, when the Big East Conference still was playing football and there were six power conferences. In most years, the annual increase has been at least $150 million.
And that may well return to being the power-conference norm, as the Big Ten and Southeastern conferences appear headed toward revenue booms for their ongoing 2025 fiscal years that likely will take each to at least $1 billion, and the Pac-12’s demise and dispersal will help boost income for the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big 12.
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But with the ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12 providing their new returns this week in response to requests from USA TODAY Sports, and the Big Ten and SEC having done so previously, the combined revenue tally for fiscal 2024 was nearly $3.54 billion, compared to a little more than $3.55 billion for fiscal 2023.
Here is conference-by-conference rundown for the three that released their tax records this week (IRS rules require revenue and expense data to be reported on a fiscal-year basis and pay data on a calendar-year basis):
Pac-12
Revenue: $566.6 million, fourth among Power Five.
Per-school payouts: $30.15 million for the 10 other than Oregon State and Washington State; $46.6 million for Oregon State and Washington State. Overall average for the 12 schools: $32.9 million, fifth among Power Five.
Commissioner’s pay: George Kliavkoff, who was ousted as of the end of February 2024, was credited with nearly $3.7 million in total compensation for the 2023 calendar year. That was about $300,000 less than his total for 2022. His base pay increased by more than $150,000 in 2023, but he received a $500,000 bonus in 2022 and no bonus in 2023.
Overview: The conference’s revenue fell by more the $37 million compared to fiscal 2023 as 10 schools were getting set to move, variously, to the ACC, Big Ten and Big 12. That hurt sponsorship and other revenue. Meanwhile, the conference-owned Pac-12 Networks operated at a $14 million loss for a variety of reasons, including some related to the conference’s impending shakeup. In addition, bowl revenue declined by a little over $19 million primarily because the Rose Bowl was a College Football Playoff semifinal rather than a game affiliated with the Pac-12, as has occurred every three years.
A legal dispute over the future of the conference and its assets that pitted Oregon State and Washington State against the 10 departing schools ended with a settlement under which each of the 10 agreed to a $6.5 million reduction in its distribution from the conference.
From that $65 million, Oregon State and Washington State — as the only remaining voting members of the conference — added $10 million to each of their distributions to help cover their costs of continuing as the Pac-12 Conference for at least the two-year interim period allowed under NCAA rules, a statement from the conference said.
This included costs “related to future non-conference scheduling, affiliate membership in other conferences across basketball and several Olympic sports and other financial considerations,” the statement said.
Separate from the annual revenues and expenses — which resulted in an annual surplus despite the revenue declined — the Pac-12 deducted about $58.4 million from its net assets to finally settle overpayments that Comcast made over a five-year period to the Pac-12 Networks.
ACC
Revenue: $711.4 million, third among Power Five.
Per-school payouts: Ranged from $43.1 million to $46.4 million, except for Notre Dame, which received $20.7 million. The average was third among Power Five.
Commissioner’s pay: Jim Phillips was credited with nearly $4.1 million in total compensation, including almost $3.95 million in base compensation. The base amount represents a roughly 50% increase over his total for the 2022 calendar year. This was “a compensation adjustment at the direction of the board” of directors of the conferences, which comprises school CEO’s, a conference spokesperson said.
Overview: The conference’s fiscal 2024 revenue was nearly identical to its 2023 revenue of $706.7 million. Its outside legal expenses jumped from $7.2 million to $12.3 million amid membership disputes with Clemson and Florida State, as well as the House-NCAA litigation.
Looking ahead, revenue for the ongoing 2025 fiscal year will increase due to the additions of California, Stanford and SMU, and this will be the first year in which the conference’s revenue-sharing arrangements will take into account incentive payments for team success in football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball.
Under a settlement of the disputes with Clemson and Florida State, during the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2025 – so, for the 2025-26 school year – the revenue-sharing arrangements also will take into account viewership for football and men’s basketball games covered by the ACC’s contract with ESPN and the ACC Network.
Big 12
Revenue: $493.8 million, fourth among Power Five.
Per-school payouts: Ranged from $37.8 million to $42.1 million for the schools other than newcomers BYU, Houston, Central Florida and Cincinnati, which averaged about $20 million apiece. The larger payouts were fourth among Power Five.
Commissioner’s pay: Brett Yormark was credited with a total of nearly $4.4 million, including just over $2.5 million categorized as base pay and $1.25 million in bonus pay.
Overview: The conference’s total revenue declined by about $17 million from the fiscal 2023 amount and the conference reported a nearly $37 million annual operating deficit.
While revenue in four areas covered by the tax records increased, its bowl revenue dropped from just over $157 million in fiscal 2023 to $110.6 million in 2024. In a statement, the conference said this was mainly due to the CFP semifinal rotation, which resulted in the Big 12 not being contracted to appear in the Sugar Bowl during this fiscal cycle.
As previously reported, Oklahoma and Texas received full revenue shares for their final year in the conference, even as the four new schools joined.
(This story was updated with new information.)
