We have been wondering what the profitability of the SEC Network would realistically would be. Laughable reports of $20-30 Million per team were tossed around for year 1. Well we now have some more concrete numbers. South Carolina AD Ray Tanner said recently the number could top $5 Million in year one.
“Long story short, when we first started talking about the network, they said we’d probably realize a benefit in Year 3,” Tanner told the BOT. “Obviously it’s been more successful than that. This summer we’ll receive a distribution (and) I think it will be at least $5 million. I’d like to think that’s on the conservative side. Each school will receive a $5 million gain.”
That is obviously great news for the SEC schools, but it is also very good news for the likely ACC Network. It took 5 years before the Big 10 Network turned a profit. The Pac 12 Network payouts in 2014 were $800,000, and it launched in 2012.
Even if the ACC makes 50% of what the SEC does in year 1, that’s $2.5 Million. It’s clear what the difference is between the SEC, Big 10, and Pac 12 and it’s not just SEC Football which isn’t head and shoulders above the rest of the country anymore. It’s ESPN and it’s power of distribution, and as we know that is who is the ACC is in current network negotiations with.
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