Report: Big 12 To Receive $91 Million Annually With New Playoff System

ESPN has a new report out with details of the new revenue sharing model that has been agreed upon by all the conference commissioners in regards to the new BCS Playoff System. The details of this plan, set to begin during the 2014 season and will continue through 2025, follow:

The BCS recently signed a 12-year contract with ESPN. The deal averages to $470 million annually, sources said. Of that amount, about $125 million is expected to go toward expenses, including an academic reward component, game participation, team expenses, allotment to Football Championship Subdivision conferences and other items.

It leaves an average of $345 million annually, which the commissioners have decided to split in two ways: 75 percent ($258.75 million) divided equally between the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and ACC, and the remaining 25 percent ($86.25 million) divided among the Big East, MWC, MAC, C-USA and Sun Belt.

That alone gives the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and ACC an average of $51.75 million annually. The SEC, Big 12, Pac-12 and Big Ten also will each receive an additional $40 million annually for their contract bowl deals with ESPN: Allstate Sugar (SEC, Big 12) and Rose Bowl Game presented by Vizio (Pac-12, Big 12).

The ACC also will earn at least an additional $27.5 million annually for its ESPN contract bowl deal with the Orange. The ACC's opponent will either be Notre Dame or a team from the SEC and Big Ten. If the SEC or Big Ten places a team in the Orange Bowl, that league would earn another $27.5 million, increasing the SEC or Big Ten's playoff revenue share to $118 million.

Notre Dame's exact compensation for playing in the Orange Bowl during the ESPN deal is not known, but sources told ESPN it would be "substantially less" than the $27.5 million payout to an ACC, SEC or Big Ten team.

In the new playoff format, Notre Dame is expected to receive an average of about $4 million during the 12-year contract, sources said. If the Irish play in the national semifinals or one of the six major bowls, Notre Dame would receive a great deal more than the $4 million amount.

Only three of those six major, or host, bowls that will hold the semifinals have been determined: Rose, Sugar and Orange. The other three are expected to be Fiesta, Cotton and Chick-fil-A, sources told ESPN.

In the current BCS system, the SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12, ACC and Big East each received an automatic BCS bowl berth, earning each league $23.6 million. If a league received a second BCS bowl berth, it earned an additional $6.2 million.

So, for the Big 12 that is an estimated $9 million per year, per school. And, not to mention, there is a portion of money being set aside by the new BCS to be awarded to conferences and schools that have the highest graduation rates, something that could be a financial windfall for TCU as well.

All in all, this new playoff thing is looking like mega dollars. I, for one, am excited.