FORBES: Most Valuable College Conferences 2014

FORBES: Most Valuable College Conferences 2014 

FranktheTank
8/21/2014

"This is a bit of a snapshot of the last year of the BCS and completion of conference realignment. Every FBS league is going to get a boost in bowl revenue due to the new CFP system. However, the Big Ten and SEC are going to get more bowl money conpared to the other conferences since they have an Orange Bowl tie-in on top of the Rose and Sugar Bowls. Also, the new BTN money from NJ and MD and the new SEC Network are going to kick up those leagues' TV contracts (while the Big Ten will get a new first tier TV deal in a couple of years). The AAC value is going to go down on a relative basis since it won't be getting the auto BCS bid money anymore (so they'll essentially be getting the same bowl money as the rest of the G5) and the Syracuse and Louisville NCAA Tournament credits will ultimately expire. The AAC will still get a good amount of NCAA Tournament money with UConn. "


1845 Bear
8/21/2014

"Adjusted ranking per-school.

For FBS leagues we took the number of football members in 2013-14, for the Big East and A-10 we took hoops membership.

B1G has 318 million divided over 12 teams for 26.5 million per team.
Big 12 has 262 million divided over 10 teams for 26.2 million per team.
PAC has 299 million divided over 12 teams for 24.9 million per team.
ACC has 305 million divided over 14 teams for 21.8 million per team.
SEC has 271 million divided over 14 teams for 19.4 million per team.
AAC has 72.3 million divided over 10 teams for 7.2 million per team.
Big East has 50.2 million divided over 10 teams for 5 million per team.
MWC has 31.5 million divided over 12 teams for 2.6 million per team.
CUSA has 24.5 million divided over 14 teams for 1.8 million per team.
A-10 has 16.5 million divided over 13 teams for 1.3 million per team.



**Note**
1- The SEC doesn't appear to include the SEC Network which will skew things for future projection. This list is probably for the 2013-14 season so their tier 3 tv deals (when applicable) should elevate them slightly but the unfinished negotiation on the SECN is artificially weighing down the average.

2- Big 12 does not include tier 3 tv which would add around 2 million per team if just the LHN and SoonerSports revenues were divided 10 ways, not to mention everyone else adding to that.

3- The ACC's partial non-fb membership of Notre Dame and my dividing by # of football members probably inflates the ACC number slightly as ND gets paid out of that revenue as well.

4- The Big Ten's new distribution fees for New Jersey, the New York counties of the NYC DMA and Maryland are not included in the conference revenue. Plus Nebraska, Rutgers and Maryland (its "travel subsidy" aside) are only getting partial shares of varying sizes, not that this affects the new average payout but it does affect the actual payout number to the 11 members receiving full shares.  "




"According to Forbes 2014 the top 10 most valuable conferences in College Sports:


1. Big Ten
Bowl Games: $45.7 million
NCAA Tournaments: $24 million
TV Deals: $250 million
Total: $318 million

The Big Ten has massive TV income, and it will only grow larger as the Big Ten Network (of which it owns 49%) becomes increasingly profitable. The conference leads the field in NCAA tourney payouts thanks to playing a staggering 96 tournament games over the last six seasons; each game played is worth $250,000 this year.


2. ACC
Bowl Games: $46.6 million
NCAA Tournaments: $18 million
TV Deals: $240 million
Total: $305 million

The outstanding football performances of Florida State and Clemson, which went to the BCS Championship and Orange Bowl, respectively, helped the conference net over $30 million in BCS money alone this year. The ACC has an escalator in its ESPN TV deal, and this year will collect some $197.5 million.


3. Pac-12
Bowl Games: $35 million
NCAA Tournaments: $13.3 million
TV Deals: $250 million
Total: $299 million

The Pac-12 failed to send an at-large team to a BCS bowl this year, missing out on a $6.3 million BCS payout. And though there is massive TV revenue from the $250 million-per-year deal with Fox and ESPN (this year's payout is actually closer to $194 million), its wholly owned Pac-12 Network requires the conference to pay some $15 million per year to buy back its member schools' third-tier rights from Learfield Sports and IMG College.

4. SEC
Bowl Games: $51.5 million
NCAA Tournaments: $14.8 million
TV Deals: $205 million
Total: $271 million

The SEC isn't traditionally a basketball power, but this year Florida made a run to the Final Four and Kentucky went all the way to the title game before suffering defeat. All in all, the SEC's 2014 NCAA Tournament performance will net the conference more than $20 million over the next six years. There's little surprise that the conference dominated the nation in bowl game revenue; no other conference earned more than $47 million in postseason football revenue.

5. Big 12
Bowl Games: $42.4 million
NCAA Tournaments: $19.8 million
TV Deals: $200 million
Total: $262 million

On a per-school basis, the Big 12 ranks second only to the Big Ten with over $26 million in revenue per member school. That earning power is a big reason why the Big 12 has often been a suspected landing spot for teams rumored to be looking for a new conference home.

6. American
Bowl Games: $30.6 million
NCAA Tournaments: $21.8 million
TV Deals: $20 million
Total: $72.3 million

The AAC may have lost the Catholic 7's basketball units, which are worth nearly $8 million this year, but it will still claim the nation's second-highest NCAA basketball payout thanks mostly to the past performances of Connecticut, Louisville and Syracuse.

7. Big East
Bowl Games: $0 million
NCAA Tournaments: $8.5 million
TV Deals: $41.7 million
Total: $50.2 million

Unimpressive football play can be a death knell for a conference's earnings, and no football teams is usually even worse. Yet the Big East was able to get a 12-year, $500 million deal out of Fox, thanks largely to the company's dire need of live telecasts for its fledgling sports network.

8. Mountain West
Bowl Games: $5.7 million
NCAA Tournaments: $7.8 million
TV Deals: $18 million
Total: $31.5 million

The conference appeared to slip when it lost BYU, TCU and Utah in recent years, but those schools were replaced with Boise State, Fresno State and four others. The new members helped the MWC negotiate an ESPN deal that gives it a step up on the competition, but even that is diminished by an escalator clause - the conference will take home around $14 million in TV revenue this year.

9. Conference USA
Bowl Games: $7.5 million
NCAA Tournaments: $3 million
TV Deals: $14 million
Total: $24.5 million

Few conferences have been shaken up as much as C-USA, which added seven new programs in 2013 after watching the likes of Memphis, UCF, SMU and others jump ship. Its five-year agreements with CBS and Fox are each worth around $7 million per year.

10. Atlantic 10
Bowl Games: $0 million
NCAA Tournaments: $11.5 million
TV Deals: $5 million
Total: $16.5 million

Like the Big East, the A-10 doesn't play football. But while it earns nothing on the turf, it wins big on the court. The recent performances by VCU, La Salle and Dayton have been particularly great, and in the last two years the conference has played nearly as many games as it had in the previous four combined."