Conferences by the numbers

Updated: December 18, 2009, 3:13 PM ET
ESPN.com

FOOTBALL REVENUES

Here are the total revenue figures for the top 25 football programs from all the major conferences. (Source: Revenues for college football programs reported by institutions to the U.S. Department of Education as required by the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act/2008 data)

Top 25 School Total revenue in millions
1. Texas $87.6
2. Ohio State $68.2
3. Florida $66.2
4. Georgia $65.2
5. Alabama $64.6
6. LSU $61.9
7. Penn State $61.8
8. Auburn $58.6
9. South Carolina $57.1
10. Notre Dame $56.9
11. Nebraska $55.2
12. Michigan $52.2
13. Michigan State $43.5
14. Tennessee $42.8
15. Oklahoma $42.6
16. Wisconsin $40
17. Iowa $38.9
18. Arkansas $38.6
19. Texas A&M $38.4
20. Clemson $35.2
21. Southern Cal $35.2
22. Washington $34.2
23. Oregon State $30.9
24. Arizona State $29.9
25. Virginia Tech $27.7

Attendance by conference

Conferences ranked by average football attendance per game in 2008. SEC's total fans: 6,378,085. Source: NCAA

Rank Conference Fans
1. SEC 76,844
2. Big Ten 70,125
3. Big 12 62,956
4. Pac-10 57,350
5. ACC 52,737

Top 25 Attendance

Here are the schools ranked by average football attendance in 2008 (per game). SEC schools are in bold. (Source: NCAA)

Rank School Fans per game
1. Michigan 108,571
2. Penn State 108,254
3. Ohio State 104,976
4. Tennessee 101,448
5. Texas 98,046
6. Georgia 92,746
7. LSU 92,383
8. Alabama 92,138
9. Florida 90,544
10. Auburn 86,915
11. USC 86,793
12. Oklahoma 85,075
13. Nebraska 85,071
14. Texas A&M 82,193
15. Wisconsin 81,088
16. Notre Dame 80,795
17. South Carolina 80,529
18. Clemson 78,001
19. Texas A&M 78,001
20. Florida State 77,968
21. UCLA 72,795
22. Iowa 70,169
23. Kentucky 69,434
24. Arkansas 68,740
25. Virginia Tech 66,233

SEC Financial Ledger

Here is the SEC financial ledger, including revenue, expenses, assets and their distribution to the member schools as well as SEC commissioner Mike Slive's compensation. Source: IRS 990 filings for 2007 through June 30, 2008.

Category Money
Total revenue $161.56 million
Total expenses $153.97 million
Net assets $65.2 million
Distribution to member schools $135.01 million (12 schools)
Other Florida's share was $11,199,254; distribution is for TV revenues, fees and ticket sales for regular-season and postseason football, basketball and baseball games.

Total Revenue

In the following three tables are conference financial comparisons, beginning with total revenue comparisons for each of the conferences. Source: NCAA

Conference Total revenue
Big 10 $217.72 million
ACC $162.76 million
SEC $161.56 million
Big 12 $129.87 million
Pac-10 $96.08 million
Big East $93.35 million
Conference USA $45.12 million
WAC $19.24 million
MAC $10.1 million
Mountain West $9.8 million

Net assets

A financial comparison of net assets among the major conferences. Source: NCAA

Conference Net assets
SEC $65.2 million
ACC $34.08 million
Big 10 $11.42 million
Big 12 $10.94 million
Conference USA $8.73 million
Mountain West $4.3 million
Pac-10 $1.251 million
WAC $936,954
MAC (-$553,198)

Commissioner's compensation

The commissioner's compensation comparison for each of the conferences. (Source: IRS 990 filings for 2007 through June 30, 2008)

Conference Commissioner's compensation
Big 10 $1,232,835 (Jim Delaney)
ACC $888,116 (John Swofford)
SEC $720,561 (Mike Slive)
Big 12 $712,990 (Dan Bebee)
Conference USA $571,557 (Britton Banowsky)
Pac-10 $550,000 (Tom Hansen)
Mountain West $548,245 (Craig Thompson)
Big East $526,739 (Michael Tranghese)
WAC $427,924 (Karl Benson)
MAC $253,000 (Rick Chryst)

SEC Revenue Distribution

Money distributed to the SEC's 12 member schools. Source: SEC

Year Revenue
2010 TBA (speculation it could approach $200 million, fueled by new TV deals)
2009 $132.5 million
2008 $127.6 million
2007 $122 million
2006 $116.1 million
2005 $110.7 million
2004 $108.8 million
2003 $101.9 million
2002 $95.7 million
2001 $78.1 million
2000 $73.2 million
1999 $68.5 million
1998 $61.2 million
1997 $58.9 million
1996 $45.5 million
1995 $40.3 million
1994 $34.36 million
1993 $34.34 million
1992 $27.7 million
1991 $20.6 million
1990 $16.3 million
1989 $13.85 million
1988 $14.34 million
1987 $13.56 million
1986 $13.1 million
1985 $9.34 million
1984 $18.4 million
1983 $9.53 million
1982 $7.24 million
1981 $5.57 million
1980 $4.1 million

SEC Revenue Sources (2008-09)

SEC revenue sources. (Source: Southeastern Conference)

Revenue Source
$52 million Football television
$25.4 million Bowls
$14.3 million SEC football championship
$13.6 million Basketball television
$4.1 million SEC men's basketball tournament
$23.1 million NCAA championships

SEC Major Violations

(Source: NCAA, dating to 1953)

SEC Major Violations
• 49 major violations
• 22 major violations cited since 1990. Every school has been cited at least once during this time and all the violations have involved either football or men's basketball, except for two -- Arkansas track and Vanderbilt women's basketball.
• 53 years in total probation handed out since 1990.
• Nine major violations since 2000 -- totaling 30 years of probation.
• Six different schools -- half the conference -- cited for major violations during a hot stretch of 2002-04.
• Longest ever conference streak of at least one member on probation since the University of Georgia football program was placed on one-year probation Jan. 4, 1985 (improper financial aid and transportation, extra benefits, improper recruiting contact). Currently 24 consecutive years and guaranteed to extend another three years. The Big 12 went 17 years (dating to old Big 8/Southwest Conference, Jan. 21, 1986 to Dec. 21, 2002); Big 10 has current streak of 13 years dating to Sept. 16, 1996 (Indiana remains on probation).
• Two schools currently serving probation: Arkansas (three years beginning Oct. 25, 2007) and Alabama (three years commencing June 11, 2009).
• Every conference member has committed major violations, though Vanderbilt is the only school not to have served probation (women's hoops charged, but no probation).

Leading conference offenders (Major violations since 1990)

Here are the leading conference offenders (Major violations since 1990). (Source: NCAA)

Conference Number of violations
SEC 22
Big 1219
ACC 12
Big 10 10
Big East 8
Pac-10 7
Conference USA 5
MAC 3
Mountain West 3
WAC 2

SEC major infractions offenders

The SEC's major offenders, the number of their infractions/cases and the dates of the cases. Note: Vanderbilt's one infraction since 1990 was in women's basketball, with no probation imposed. Source: NCAA

No. of cases School No. of cases since 1990
7Auburn3
6Georgia2
6Kentucky1
5Alabama4
5Mississippi State2
4Arkansas3
4Florida1
4South Carolina2
3Mississippi1
2Louisiana State1
1Tennessee1
1Vanderbilt1

SEC violations since 1990

Here are the SEC major violations and cases since 1990, with the program involved and the date and penalty handed down. Source: NCAA

School Date penalty handed out Sport Penalty
Alabama6/11/09Football/Basketball3 years' probation
Arkansas10/25/07Track3 years
South Carolina11/16/05Football3 years (Lou Holtz was head coach)
Mississippi State10/27/04Football4 years
Georgia8/5/04Basketball4 years
Auburn4/27/04Basketball2 years
Arkansas4/17/03Football/Basketball3 years
Alabama2/1/02Football5 years
Kentucky1/31/02Football3 years
Alabama2/9/99BasketballNo probation
LSU11/18/99Basketball3 years
Arkansas6/10/97BasketballNo probation
Georgia4/5/97Football3 years
Mississippi State3/7/96Football1 year
Alabama8/2/95Football2 years
Mississippi11/17/94Football4 years
Auburn8/18/93Football2 years
Vanderbilt4/8/92Women's basketballNo probation
Auburn11/18/91Basketball2 years
Tennessee9/18/91Football2 years
South Carolina2/3/91Football2 years
Florida9/2/90Football/Basketball2 years

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