Report: SEC Added Withdrawal Fee of Up to $45 Million in 2021

The league previously declined to add the fees, which others have to curtail programs leaving.

Withdrawal fees for schools looking to leave their conferences for greener pastures are commonplace in college athletics. Until 2021, the SEC was a rare holdout, with the lack of an exit fee serving as something of a flex over the stability and strength of the conference.

That quietly came to an end around this time last year, Kristi Dosh of Business of College Sports shared on Tuesday.

While reviewing financial distribution policies for college conferences, Dosh discovered a new, substantial exit fee for the SEC, added with the adoption of updated league bylaws on Jan. 14, 2021.

As laid out in Section 3 of the league bylaws, the new fee starts at $30 million, if the conference member provides “written notice to the President and the Commissioner of the date of its withdrawal at least two years prior to the date on which the withdrawal will be effective.”

“A member that withdraws from the Conference without providing notice of withdrawal as required by Section 3.1.4 shall pay a withdrawal fee of $40 million to the Conference immediately upon providing notice of withdrawal (or if no notice is provided, as of the effective date of such withdrawal),” the section continues.

If a member school is “deemed to have withdrawn“ from the SEC by the league commissioner without notice, it will have to pay a fee of $45 million.

As Dosh notes, the change was made months before Oklahoma and Texas announced that they will leave the Big 12 and join the league by 2025. 

“The adjustments made to SEC Bylaws in January 2021 were related to securing and distributing supplemental income to SEC members to help mitigate the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on SEC athletics programs as announced in May," EC associate commissioner Herb Vincent told Dosh. "SEC presidents and chancellors unanimously approved the bylaw change."

Dosh notes that many across the league weren't even aware of the change, indicating there isn't much concern over an SEC school leaving for another league. But the fact the withdrawal fee was adopted at all is certainly noteworthy.