First thought: The Big Ten knows how to make money.

Second thought: No wonder the SEC is starting its own network.

According to USA Today, the Big Ten’s latest tax return shows that the league pulled in $315 million during its last fiscal year (which ended in June of 2012).  That’s $50 million more than the league made the previous year and $42 million more than the SEC reported during its last fiscal year (which ended in August of 2012).

Additionally, USA Today writes: “The return also showed the league-owned Big Ten Network has progressed from start-up to overall profitability in less than five years.”

The Big Ten co-owns its television channel with FOX.  ESPN owns the new SEC Network and is expected to pay the SEC a licensing fee for content and 50% of profits.  The SEC should see money sooner from its network than the Big Ten did from its channel.

Now let’s tinker with the data USA Today is reporting.  For the fiscal year ending in Summer 2012, both the Big Ten and SEC were 12-school leagues.  With the SEC office taking an equal share — and we assume the Big Ten office does the same — that carves total revenue into 13 units.  Doing a little ballpark math… if the Big Ten made about $42 million more than the SEC during both leagues’ last fiscal year and that revenue was divided into 13 units, the average Big Ten school would have made about $3.2 million more than the average SEC school in 2011-12.

As the Big Ten Network continues to grow, the Big Ten will continue to bring in more loot.  And with the conference expanding to 14 schools eventually stretching all the way to New York City and Washington, DC, it will most certainly continue to grow.

Down South, the new SEC Network could become a billion-dollar-a-year revenue stream for Mike Slive’s league at some point down the road (as is the case with the Big Ten Network and Jim Delany’s league).

So as we’ve written on a number of occasions, new contracts and deals will continue to be cut by networks and conferences over the coming decades, but you can expect the Big Ten and SEC to always remain one-two in terms of revenue among the major conferences.  Who’s on top will depend greatly on whose network grows the largest.

And if you’re wondering how a league with average football in recent years is out-earning the king of the football world in a marketplace driven by football… click here.

When you think about it, South Carolina isn’t as long a shot to win the BCS title as Auburn was at the beginning of last year’s campaign.  Still, knowing the Gamecocks’ history, it’s a little jarring to see USC — the USC of the East — tabbed as the top team in the country.

But The New York Post has done just that:


“With (Steve) Spurrier’s smooth Southern charm and dazzling resume as a college coach (he led Florida to the 1996 national championship) and player (he won the Heisman Trophy in 1966), landing some of the nation’s best talent, and his sixth sense for play calling, the Gamecocks are ready to make history.”


While The Post is picking the Gamecocks to win it all in January, Spurrier is quick to point out that his program still needs to do some growing.

“We never finished in the Top 10, never won a major bowl, never won the SEC,” the coach said.  “There’s still a whole bunch of firsts out there for us.”

“We’ll get a little pub right now, get our fans fired up over it.  Then we’ll see.  I think we’ve assembled hopefully one of our best teams ever.”

If nothing else, Spurrier has built the Gamecock program to the point where a national title isn’t completely outside the realm of possibility.  That’s quite a feat when you consider the long march through the desert that Carolina’s football history has been.

Now even folks as far off as New York City are paying attention to what’s going on in Columbia.

(As we noted earlier in our post regarding Mississippi State’s rise, hire the right coach and upward mobility is possible in the rough-and-tumble SEC.)

Tennessee’s Bruce Pearl has hit the halfway mark of his SEC suspension.  His Vols are 2-2 in the league and coming off back-to-back wins over Vanderbilt and Georgia (on the road).  This weekend his team will head to Hartford to match up against #8 UConn.  Pearl will be back on the bench, though he briefly considered sitting this one out.

“I thought about it… and wasn’t sure what purpose it would serve.  We’ve put some unprecedented penalties on our program — there’s no question that the visibility of it all — and (the penalties) have played a part in some of our struggles as it should.  That’s what happens when you get suspended, that’s what happens when… you’ve got self-imposed penalties.”

Pearl was also asked about the many national pundits — Jay Bilas, Dick Vitale, Digger Phelps — who have said he should have been fired or should be suspended for at least a year.

“They have a job to do.  These decisions (about the punishments) are made by people with all the information.  So sometimes it’s puzzling when people make strong statements when they don’t have all the facts.”

If Pearl can lead Tennessee to victory against UConn — and how many NCAA references do you think will be made in a game featuring Pearl and Jim Calhoun? — it will be the Volunteers’ third win of the season against a highly-ranked Big East foe on a neutral court.  UT has already beaten Villanova in New York City and Pittsburgh in the Steel City (though away from their home gym).

Numerous members of the 13th-ranked Tennessee basketball team have received honors in recent days following the Vols’ championship performance in the NIT Season Tip-Off last week at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
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Auburn head coach Gene Chizik has been named as one of eight finalists for the 2010 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award, the Football Writers Association of America in conjunction with the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl has announced. The winner will be revealed on Dec. 6 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.
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Tennessee edged Missouri State, 60-56, Wednesday to advance to the semifinals of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Preseason NIT in New York City next week.
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