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Big 12 Announces Record Revenue Distribution

The league will pay last year's 10 members $44 million, which is the most its ever paid out, but still lags far behind what the Southeastern Conference paid for fiscal year 2022.

John E. Hoover

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Bob Bowlsby said it on his way out the door last year, and new commissioner Brett Yormark made good on Bowlsby’s words this year.

The Big 12 Conference announced Friday that schools will receive a record revenue distribution of $44 million for fiscal year 2022.

That’s up slightly from the $42.6 million the league’s 10 schools received last year, according to information announced by the league.

“I think we’ll continue to break records for the next two years,” Bowlsby said at last year's spring meetings in Irving, TX. 

Yormark and Texas Tech president Lawrence Schovanec, chairman of the Big 12 Board of Directors, staged a video press conference on Friday as the league concluded its annual spring business meetings, which Schovanec called “very productive and substantive.”

In addition to the annual business of announcing the revenue distribution, Yormark said, “we had a great discussion about expansion, and we have a plan. … That being said, we love our current composition. … however, if the opportunity presents itself to create value, we will pursue it.”

Expansion could include a basketball-only school, Yormark said. A question was asked about the Gonzaga model, where the school doesn’t offer football but boasts one of the nation’s elite basketball program. Yormark, who’s a self-described basketball junkie, said that was among the possibilities.

“We’re gonna consider all options,” he said. “We do see the upside in basketball for all the right reasons. We think it's undervalue, and there's a chance for us to double down as the No. 1 basketball conference in America.

“But football is the driver.”

Yormark also said the league will announce a “brand refresh” and more next year, though that was "not a logo change and certainly not a name change."

That’s good timing, since flagship programs Oklahoma and Texas are leaving for membership in the Southeastern Conference in almost exactly 13 months. The Big 12 will rebrand with incoming members BYU, Cincinnati, UCF and Houston, who join officially on July 1.

While joining the Big 12 is a big payday for those schools, joining the SEC is likewise for OU and Texas, who will receive full Big 12 shares on their way out.

“They are not impacted (by leaving early)," Yormark said. "They’re getting their whole distribution this year as the entire 10 members. So (OU-Texas revenue) was not impacted this year.”

The SEC in February announced a total payout of $721.8 million to its 14 member schools, which each received about $49.9 million per school. 

That number has been projected to increase significantly after the implementation of the 12-team College Football Playoff and the SEC’s forthcoming new deal with ESPN/ABC.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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