AU ATHLETICS: Auburn receives biggest payday yet from SEC

The Auburn athletic department will receive approximately $11.1 million from the SEC this year, as the conference announced its 2008-09 revenue sharing plan Friday.

The league will divvy up $132.5 million — the highest total ever distributed in SEC history — equally among the 12 schools. The lump sum represents a 4 percent increase from the $127.6 million doled out in 2007-08.

The bulk of the funds ($52 million) was derived from revenue generated through football on television.

Other sources included: bowl games ($25.4 million), NCAA Championships ($23.1 million), SEC Football Championship ($14.3 million), basketball television ($13.6 million) and the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament ($4.1 million).

Not included was the $11.6 million retained by the eight schools that made postseason bowl games this past season and the $744,000 divided among all 12 schools for “academic enhancement.”
Auburn did not make a bowl game for the first time in eight years this past season.

The money should continue to roll in for the next 15 years, as the conference is set to commence its newly signed television deals with ESPN and CBS.
In a letter on the Auburn athletics’ Web site Friday, athletic director Jay Jacobs lauded the new deal.

“The agreements will make the SEC the most widely televised conference in the country,” Jacobs wrote. “The revenue generated will ensure the financial strength of Auburn Athletics and all schools in the conference for the next 15 years.”

Jacobs outlined a few of the deal’s highlights for clarity’s sake.

- All but one of Auburn’s games — presumably Nov. 7’s homecoming game against Furman — will be televised. The 12th game will be available on pay-per-view.

- Aside from the “SEC game of the week” that will continue to air on CBS, ESPN will have exclusive rights to all other SEC home games. Those games will be seen on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU. ESPN and ESPN2 will air the “premier” games. ESPN will also air two Thursday night games. ESPNU’s game of the week will primarily air during primetime.

- ESPN Regional Television replaces Raycom for syndicated games and those games will continue to air around 11:30 a.m. CST.

The deal, which when combined totals more than $3 billion over the 15-year period, essentially puts the determination of kickoff times in the networks’ hands. But that’s OK, Jacobs wrote.

“The new contracts will impact all of our sports and give us unprecedented exposure,” Jacobs wrote.

The SEC also announced the makeup of its Executive Committee on Friday from the final day of the conference’s spring meetings in Destin, Fla.

Jacobs was one of seven administrators from seven different schools elected. He is the only athletic director among the group.

Yearly money distributions since 1980:
1980 — $4.1 million
1981 — $5.57 million
1982 — $7.24 million
1983 — $9.53 million
1984 — $18.4 million
1985 — $9.34 million
1986 — $13.1 million
1987 — $13.56 million
1988 — $14.34 million
1989 — $13.85 million
1990 — $16.3 million
1991 — $20.6 million
1992 — $27.7 million
1993 — $34.34 million
1994 — $34.36 million
1995 — $40.3 million
1996 — $45.5 million
1997 — $58.9 million
1998 — $61.2 million
1999 — $68.5 million
2000 — $73.2 million
2001 — $78.1 million
2002 — $95.7 million
2003 — $101.9 million
2004 — $108.8 million
2005 — $110.7 million
2006 — $116.1 million
2007 — $122.0 million
2008 — $127.6 million
2009 — $132.5 million

*Information provided by the Southeastern Conference