Florida athletics: Florida gets more than $44 million from SEC

Florida athletics received around $44.6 million from the Southeastern Conference as part of 2018-2019 total revenue.

Florida athletics got a bit of a boost from the Southeastern Conference last week when the conference announced its revenue distribution from the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

According to the conference, it brought in around $651 million.

That total included $624.2 million from the conference office and about $26.8 million retained by schools for their participation in 2018-2019 football bowl games. The latter amount offset costs for travel and other bowl-related expenses.

In all, Florida athletics and other member schools received about $44.6 million from the conference office.

"“The revenue distributed through the Southeastern Conference enables our 14 member universities to provide unparalleled support to their student-athletes through superior instruction, training, equipment, academic counseling, medical care, mental health and wellness support and life-skills development,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said, in a statement. “It is this sustained conference-wide commitment to the student-athlete experience that makes this conference sound and its impact so meaningful.”"

The revenue distributed includes revenue from television agreements, post-season bowl games, the College Football Playoff, the SEC football championship, the SEC men’s basketball tournament, the NCAA tournament and a “supplemental surplus distribution.”

The total amount does not include $7.8 million in grants from the NCAA and SEC divided among the 14 schools that make up the conference.

The $651 million was an increase from the $627.1 million the conference distributed in 2017-2018. The average distributed to each school then was about $43.1 million and did not include bowl money schools earned.

The money distributed by the conference is used by programs, like Florida athletics, to fund academic scholarships, endowed faculty positions, student wellness programs and various other school-related programs and projects.

According to Florida athletics, the average cost for a student-athlete — including scholarship, travel, sports medicine and health, academic support and equipment is approximately $68,000.

The primary source of revenue outside of the conference distribution for Florida athletics is football. The program accounts for 59 percent of the revenue for the athletic budget. Men’s basketball accounts for 8 percent.

Florida athletics continues to work toward a new stand-alone football facility and new baseball stadium. The new baseball facility will be constructed at the site where the current football facility stands.