The College Football Business Had a Good Year

BCS Group Releases 2009-10 Revenue Distribution Data

Courtesy of the BCS

The conferences and institutions participating in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) today released unofficial and estimated data of the net revenue from the 2010 games. For the first time, two conferences that have not earned annual automatic qualification for their champions (the Mountain West and the Western Athletic) played in the BCS games in the same year, which will lead to a record-breaking distribution to non-AQ conferences, estimated to be $24 million.

As a result of a decision made by the five non-AQ conferences in 2004, that estimated $24 million will be allocated among those conferences, instead of remaining within the two conferences whose teams played in BCS bowl games.

The five non-AQ conferences decided to distribute the $24 million as follows:

Mountain West $9.8 million Western Athletic $7.8million Conference USA $2.8 million Mid-American $2.1 million Sun Belt $1.5 million

In addition to the estimated $24 million that these conferences are expected to receive from the appearances of TCU of the Mountain West and Boise State of the WAC in the BCS games, the following distributions are expected to be made to the six AQ conferences:

Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big 12, Pac-10 -- $17.7 million each Big Ten, Southeastern -- $22.2 million each (Note: These two conferences each had two teams in the BCS bowls, which is why their expected distributions are higher than those of the other AQ conferences.)

“Because of the BCS, all 11 conferences have more access, more revenue and more opportunity from post-season football than before the creation of the BCS, and we’re very proud of that record,” said Bill Hancock, BCS Executive Director. “In addition, the non-AQ conferences decide what to do with the money earned by their teams that qualify for the BCS bowl games. It’s theirs to keep or divide as they see fit. The expected allocation is a result of their decision.”