Arkansas Athletics: SEC Releases 2015-16 Revenue Shares

Dec 6, 2015; Grapevine, TX, USA; College football playoff selection committee chairman Jeff Long speaks to the media during selection day at the Gaylord Texan Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 6, 2015; Grapevine, TX, USA; College football playoff selection committee chairman Jeff Long speaks to the media during selection day at the Gaylord Texan Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /
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On Thursday, the SEC announced the numbers for the 2015-16 fiscal year and Arkansas Athletics is getting a nice check.

The Arkansas athletics department has been under scrutiny from fans as of late. Listen to sports radio in the state and you’ll hear people complaining about Athletic Director Jeff Long. Most of the complaints aimed at his hiring of Bielema and the basketball performance.

What many don’t understand is that Jeff Long’s job is more than hires and fires. Long is tasked with running a business and not just dealing with the cries of the fans over wins and losses. I can tell you one thing Jeff Long is fulfilling his business leadership role.

Business is booming, to say the least. Today the SEC announced how much the total revenue was for the 2015-26 season and it’s staggering. Let me start with the 2014-2015 numbers. The total revenue for that year was $475.8 million that was distributed.

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Tack on almost $100 million dollars and you get the 2015-16 revenue. Approximately $584.2 million dollars will be split between the 14 schools in the SEC. This includes $565.9 million from the conference office. Also, it contains the $18.3 million kept by the institutions that played in 2015-16 season bowl games, which offset travel costs and other bowl expenses.

How Much For The Hogs?

So how much does the University of Arkansas receive from this colossal number? Well, excluding bowl money kept by participants, it comes out to $40.4 million dollars per school. That’s a big increase from the 14-15 school revenue of $32.7 million.

So where does the money come from? It is a combination of T.V. revenue, bowl games, the College Football Playoff, The SEC Championships in both football and basketball, the NCAA Tournament and supplemental surplus distribution.

There’s big money to be made in the college athletics world and Arkansas is raking in the dough. It’s worth noting that Arkansas is also only one of 25 institutions in the nation that are completely self-sustained athletics department. Woo Pig.