Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin
A hot-button issue in recent years has been the revenue disparity between Big 12 teams. Several athletic directors of some of the conference's bottom feeders have mentioned how difficult it is to compete with the conference's biggest powers.
The Omaha World-Herald recently provided the breakdown for each school in the conference's 2007-08 revenue sharing numbers from those provided to the Internal Revenue Service.
The total of $103.1 million places the conference fourth among the "Big Six" conferences that make up the Bowl Championship Series automatic qualifiers. The Big 12 ranks behind the Big Ten ($154.2 million), the Atlantic Coast ($137.6 million) and the Southeastern ($135 million) conferences in revenue generated to share with members.
The World-Herald's findings indicate that $57 million come for television contracts, along with $32.2 million from bowl games, $27.3 million from the NCAA, $11.1 million from conference championships and $434,623 from royalties and licensing. The conference keeps some of the revenue to pay its bills, which is why those figures add up to more than the $103.1 million distributed to member institutions.
The Big Ten is the only conference that shares revenue equally among its schools. It provided $14 million to each school during the 2006-07 fiscal year.
The Big 12 schools divvy up all money equally except that which is generated from television.
Half of the TV money is divided evenly. The other half goes into an appearance pool. The schools that earn the most money are the ones who appear for football TV games and basketball nonconference games. Credits also are issued for NCAA tournament appearances.
Here's a look at the money provided for each Big 12 team.
1. Texas: $10.2 million
2. Oklahoma: $9.8 million
3. Kansas: $9.24 million
4. Texas A&M: $9.22 million
5. Nebraska: $9.1 million
6. Missouri: $8.4 million
7. Texas Tech: $8.23 million
8. Kansas State: $8.21 million
9. Oklahoma State: $8.1 million
10. Colorado: $8.0 million
11. Iowa State: $7.4 million
12. Baylor: $7.1 million
Source: Omaha World-Herald
And here's how the BCS-affiliated conferences rank:
1. Big Ten: $154.2 million
2. ACC: $137.6 million
3. SEC: $135 million
4. Big 12: $103.1 million
5. Pac-10: $80.1 million
6. Big East: $77.6 million
Source: Omaha World-Herald