Big Ten to distribute historic $1.37 billion in revenue to its 18 members for 2025 fiscal year

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https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...venue-to-its-18-members-for-2025-fiscal-year/

The Big Ten Conference announced a record $1.37 billion distribution to its 18 member institutions for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, marking the largest payout in league history as college athletics continues its financial surge. The conference said Friday the total represents a $490 million increase from the $883 million distributed in the previous fiscal year.

The Big Ten Officials attributed the jump to the first full year of the Big Ten's new media rights agreements, continued revenue growth from College Football Playoff expansion and the conference's first season as an 18-team league following the additions of Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington.

"The distributions provide meaningful support to institutions in their continued effort to provide broad-based athletic opportunities to more than 14,000 Big Ten student-athletes," the conference said in a release.

On average, the Big Ten distributed about $76.1 million per school, though individual totals varied based on postseason performance and other revenue factors. Sixteen full-share members received different amounts based on postseason participation and other revenue factors.

Ohio State led all schools with $91.57 million after winning the College Football Playoff title during the 2024 season, while Penn State received $88.92 million after its postseason run. Other fully vested members generally received between roughly $76 million and $80 million. Oregon and Washington, still on partial revenue shares through 2030, received $48.4 million and $46.7 million, respectively, according to conference figures.

The Big Ten's financial growth continues to outpace other Power Four conferences. In February, the SEC reported distributing more than $1.03 billion to its 16 members for fiscal year 2024-25, averaging $72.4 million per school.
 

Wait ... what?

Why would there just be an announcement, not until May 2026, about a distribution that already happened all the way back on or before June 30 2025 ???

Or are they saying that the check that is based on what happened from July 2024 to June 2025 .... only just went out recently ???

I'm not sure which makes less sense?
 

Also, I was under the impression that all conference-based revenue (so not anything local, like local radio deals) earned by all schools in the conference -- TV deals, CFP TV deal, CFP game money, bowl game money, March Madness -- went into a single pot and then got divided equally?? (Notwithstanding that Oregon and Wash aren't fully vested yet.)

Why is there any spread at all??
 

Wait ... what?

Why would there just be an announcement, not until May 2026, about a distribution that already happened all the way back on or before June 30 2025 ???

Or are they saying that the check that is based on what happened from July 2024 to June 2025 .... only just went out recently ???

I'm not sure which makes less sense?
They talked about the fiscal year 2025 data on Gopher Gridiron Radio. They just recently released the fiscal year 2025 data.
 
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In other news Big Ten programs institute student fees to pay for athletics
 

Gopher Men’s Basketball ticket revenue has dropped significantly, falling to $2.11 million in FY25 from over $5 million in FY18, representing a 58% decrease. Despite overall record athletic department revenue, men's basketball ticket sales continue to decline, while the 2025-26 season projects a slight rebound in home ticket sales to $2.35 million. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Key Gopher Basketball Ticket Revenue Details
  • FY25 Revenue: Men's Basketball ticket revenue was $2,113,049.
  • Long-Term Trend: Ticket revenue has shrunk every year since FY18.
  • Projections (2025-2026): Revenue from men's home ticket sales is projected at $2.356 million, up from $2.071 million in 2024-2025.
  • Comparison: The drop is significant compared to competitors like Wisconsin, which brings in over $6 million annually in men's basketball ticket revenue.
  • Women's Basketball: Projected 2025-26 home ticket revenue is $476,000. [1, 2]
From Google
Dang, Wisconsin $4M more in ticket sales than the Gophers. And $2M vs our previous $5M
And, women's at $476,000.
None of that is good...
 

Gopher Men’s Basketball ticket revenue has dropped significantly, falling to $2.11 million in FY25 from over $5 million in FY18, representing a 58% decrease. Despite overall record athletic department revenue, men's basketball ticket sales continue to decline, while the 2025-26 season projects a slight rebound in home ticket sales to $2.35 million. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Key Gopher Basketball Ticket Revenue Details
  • FY25 Revenue: Men's Basketball ticket revenue was $2,113,049.
  • Long-Term Trend: Ticket revenue has shrunk every year since FY18.
  • Projections (2025-2026): Revenue from men's home ticket sales is projected at $2.356 million, up from $2.071 million in 2024-2025.
  • Comparison: The drop is significant compared to competitors like Wisconsin, which brings in over $6 million annually in men's basketball ticket revenue.
  • Women's Basketball: Projected 2025-26 home ticket revenue is $476,000. [1, 2]
From Google
Dang, Wisconsin $4M more in ticket sales than the Gophers. And $2M vs our previous $5M
And, women's at $476,000.
None of that is good...
Not good but think both will trend sharply higher this year.
 

They talked about the fiscal year 2025 data on Gopher Gridiron Radio. They just recently released the fiscal year 2025 data.
OK, so it's the latter not the former of the two I mentioned. At least that means the schools actually got their money at some point last year (hopefully during the summer at latest).
 



Gopher Men’s Basketball ticket revenue has dropped significantly, falling to $2.11 million in FY25 from over $5 million in FY18, representing a 58% decrease. Despite overall record athletic department revenue, men's basketball ticket sales continue to decline, while the 2025-26 season projects a slight rebound in home ticket sales to $2.35 million. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Key Gopher Basketball Ticket Revenue Details
  • FY25 Revenue: Men's Basketball ticket revenue was $2,113,049.
  • Long-Term Trend: Ticket revenue has shrunk every year since FY18.
  • Projections (2025-2026): Revenue from men's home ticket sales is projected at $2.356 million, up from $2.071 million in 2024-2025.
  • Comparison: The drop is significant compared to competitors like Wisconsin, which brings in over $6 million annually in men's basketball ticket revenue.
  • Women's Basketball: Projected 2025-26 home ticket revenue is $476,000. [1, 2]
From Google
Dang, Wisconsin $4M more in ticket sales than the Gophers. And $2M vs our previous $5M
And, women's at $476,000.
None of that is good...
MBB revenue is quite obviously tied to the disastrous decision to hire Ben Johnson.

Seems there's a lot of hope the ship has started turning away from the iceberg.
 

Also, I was under the impression that all conference-based revenue (so not anything local, like local radio deals) earned by all schools in the conference -- TV deals, CFP TV deal, CFP game money, bowl game money, March Madness -- went into a single pot and then got divided equally?? (Notwithstanding that Oregon and Wash aren't fully vested yet.)

Why is there any spread at all??
I’m under the same impression as you are because that’s the way it was for years.

The exceptions are schools are reimbursed for some of their travel costs for football bowl games. There has been talk that national championship tournament games have some reimbursements as well.

For bowl games the B1G has allowed schools to be reimbursed for their costs up to the bowl games payout.

This could explain a lot of the payout difference between schools.
 

I’m under the same impression as you are because that’s the way it was for years.

The exceptions are schools are reimbursed for some of their travel costs for football bowl games. There has been talk that national championship tournament games have some reimbursements as well.

For bowl games the B1G has allowed schools to be reimbursed for their costs up to the bowl games payout.

This could explain a lot of the payout difference between schools.
I would assume the difference is CFP reimbursements and payouts as well as NCAA men’s and women’s basketball reimbursements (which would be much smaller than footballs due to team size)
 

Looking at the Minn financials, the University of Minnesota published its annual NCAA financial disclosures through its athletics website. The FY25 report—titled “Minnesota FY25 NCAA Online Report FINAL 01.14.26” However, looking at the Media Rights numbers, these are actually the FY24 numbers as the media rights escalators haven't fully kicked in when you look at the analysis. Using AI to analyze the financials and the discrepancies, this is how it accounts for the variations in public available reporting data and why we don't see a school-by-school report on the Big10 conference data.

Why the school‑by‑school report is missing

Historically:
  • The Big Ten does not publicly release school‑specific distribution figures.
  • Individual schools sometimes disclose their own revenue in athletic department financial reports, Form 990 filings, or state public‑records disclosures (for public universities).
  • These filings lag by 6–18 months, so the FY2024‑25 school‑level numbers will not appear until late 2026 or 2027.
So, the only way to reconstruct a school‑by‑school distribution is to gather each institution’s annual financial report once published.

Ryan Burns did an analysis article on the Minnesota FY25 NCAA Online Report FINAL 01.14.26 report listed above. (Again, these numbers look to be Actual Year FY24 numbers). So, for what it's worth, here's that article:
https://247sports.com/college/minne...ncluding-a-record-1636m-in-revenue-273425388/
 



Gopher Men’s Basketball ticket revenue has dropped significantly, falling to $2.11 million in FY25 from over $5 million in FY18, representing a 58% decrease. Despite overall record athletic department revenue, men's basketball ticket sales continue to decline, while the 2025-26 season projects a slight rebound in home ticket sales to $2.35 million. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Key Gopher Basketball Ticket Revenue Details
  • FY25 Revenue: Men's Basketball ticket revenue was $2,113,049.
  • Long-Term Trend: Ticket revenue has shrunk every year since FY18.
  • Projections (2025-2026): Revenue from men's home ticket sales is projected at $2.356 million, up from $2.071 million in 2024-2025.
  • Comparison: The drop is significant compared to competitors like Wisconsin, which brings in over $6 million annually in men's basketball ticket revenue.
  • Women's Basketball: Projected 2025-26 home ticket revenue is $476,000. [1, 2]
From Google
Dang, Wisconsin $4M more in ticket sales than the Gophers. And $2M vs our previous $5M
And, women's at $476,000.
None of that is good...
Ben Johnson effect.
 

Looking at the Minn financials, the University of Minnesota published its annual NCAA financial disclosures through its athletics website. The FY25 report—titled “Minnesota FY25 NCAA Online Report FINAL 01.14.26” However, looking at the Media Rights numbers, these are actually the FY24 numbers as the media rights escalators haven't fully kicked in when you look at the analysis. Using AI to analyze the financials and the discrepancies, this is how it accounts for the variations in public available reporting data and why we don't see a school-by-school report on the Big10 conference data.

Why the school‑by‑school report is missing

Historically:
  • The Big Ten does not publicly release school‑specific distribution figures.
  • Individual schools sometimes disclose their own revenue in athletic department financial reports, Form 990 filings, or state public‑records disclosures (for public universities).
  • These filings lag by 6–18 months, so the FY2024‑25 school‑level numbers will not appear until late 2026 or 2027.
So, the only way to reconstruct a school‑by‑school distribution is to gather each institution’s annual financial report once published.

Ryan Burns did an analysis article on the Minnesota FY25 NCAA Online Report FINAL 01.14.26 report listed above. (Again, these numbers look to be Actual Year FY24 numbers). So, for what it's worth, here's that article:
https://247sports.com/college/minne...ncluding-a-record-1636m-in-revenue-273425388/

Assuming the numbers in the OP are correct and (per Burns in your post) revenue exceeded expenses by 2.3M in FY 2024-2025 and NCAA revenue sharing payments began July 1, 2025 amounting to $20M+ and the new $100 student fee was instituted for academic year 2025 and is expected to garner $7-8M the resultant math looks a little shaky? I’m putting exactly two minutes into this so poke holes.

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.”
 

I would assume the difference is CFP reimbursements and payouts as well as NCAA men’s and women’s basketball reimbursements (which would be much smaller than footballs due to team size)
A strong argument could be made that making the playoff should mean that school should get to keep the payouts for those games (which aren't nothing, but are far short of Rose Bowl level payouts).

But again, I thought all payouts from all post-season football games were put into a single pot and split evenly. Could easily be wrong
 




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