Schools in the SEC are getting help from headquarters.
The league has distributed $23 million in supplemental revenue to each of its 14 members in an effort to help offset the financial impact of COVID-19, commissioner Greg Sankey confirmed to Sports Illustrated in an interview this week. The league is financing the distribution of $322 million by accessing future earnings from its multimillion-dollar media rights deal with ESPN that begins in 2024.
The SEC is the only conference to have announced additional distribution to its schools, and the amount is significant. The one-time additional revenue is more than half of the conference’s 2019–20 traditional revenue distribution ($45.