Big Ten and SEC are again the top conferences in revenue with athlete pay plan on horizon

The Big Ten held a narrow edge over the Southeastern Conference in revenue for the second straight year and the Atlantic Coast Conference again ranked a distant third among the five largest college sports conferences, according to tax filings released this week.

The five leagues combined to generate $3.55 billion in the 2022-23 fiscal year, with the Big Ten reporting revenue of $879.9 million compared with $852.6 million for the SEC. The ACC saw the most significant increase, going from $617 million in 2021-22 to $707 million.

The Pac-12, which will see 10 of its 12 members disperse to other conferences in 2024-25, generated $603.9 million. The Big 12 was fifth at $510.7 million.

The details were disclosed in the same week all five conferences and the NCAA agreed to pay a total of $2.8 billion to settle antitrust litigation that is expected to also lead to the creation of a first-of-its-kind revenue-sharing system where schools will directly pay their athletes for the first time.