June 7, 2024 | Andrei Greska | 0 Comments

Big East 2023 tax filings show slight decline in revenue, increase in payouts

I’m not an accountant. And I don’t even play on on TV. But as an avid fan of Marquette and the Big East, I’ve fallen into this weird niche of excitedly anticipating late May, as it means we get a chance to see what the conference made and how they made it.

And even though it hasn’t been posted publicly yet, the Big East was kind enough to send a digital copy of the 2023 fiscal year 990 tax form for us to analyze. What we found was a slight increase in media revenue, NCAA Tournament revenue and conference championship revenue, but a small total revenue drop of 0.5% from $87.6M in 2022 to $87.2M in 2023, mostly from a $4.5M insurance settlement in 2022 that dropped off.

On the other side, the conference’s expenses were up 6.9% from $77.1M to $82.4M in 2023 due to increased costs in production, tournaments and ultimately, higher payouts to the individual schools. The payouts to the programs were up 5.1% over 2022, and set a new record at $58M.

Big East Distributions Per Team

For those unfamiliar the Big East usually distributes 65% or so of its revenue in a given year to individual schools that make up the conference. While we don’t know the exact formula the Big East uses, we do know there is an unequal distribution based on NCAA tournament success. Which means that teams that earn more credits (revenue) for the conference in the NCAA tournament get a larger share of them. It’s not an even 11-way split.

Creighton and UConn each received over $6.3M in 2023, with DePaul and Butler each below $4.5M.

While these are incredibly healthy numbers for non-football schools, it once again highlights the uphill climb the Big East has vs the FBS power conferences. Per the Big Ten’s filings, Northwestern alone received more than all 11 Big East teams combined from the conference payouts, at just over $60M vs $58M.

Big East Historical Distributions

Putting this year’s numbers in context, the Big East saw a 5% jump in total payouts, and set a new record for the conference in a single year.

Since 2013, when the league was reborn, Villanova has amassed $57.4M, over $10M higher than the next closest program, Marquette with $46M.

One other interesting not, UConn’s 2023 payout, $6.37M was higher than the $6.25M they received in their final full payout from the AAC in 2019.

Revenue Sources

In terms of how the conference makes its millions, it reinforces the point why I’m so attuned to TV ratings all season. The Big East received $50.5M just from its media deal, primarily with FOX Sports, the first time since the reformation the conference broached the $50M mark. That sum made up almost 60% of the total revenue.

And what that pie graph also does is reiterate how vital the NCAA Tournament credits are for the conference, as they make up almost 1/3rd of the revenue. The $23.9M the conference earned was once more a record for a single year, a 3.6% jump from 2022.

The other two big chunks listed are the Conference Championships and Corporate Sponsors. It’s actually insane just how important MSG and the Big East Tournament are to the conference. The 2023 FY saw revenues surpass $7M for the first time, and totaled $8.1M, a 16.9% jump over 2022.

Going back to the media revenue, the Big East is entering it’s final season under contract with FOX Sports in 2025. Although there were national reports that a deal was imminent, it’s easy to see why there is so much focus on that as well.

(For more info and context, I’ll add a few articles below.)

Big East sees huge jump in FS1 top end ratings

What are Big East TV Rights worth?

Expenses

Outside of school payouts, conference tournaments, production and salaries were the big expenses for the Big East. Tournaments were up 13.4% to $6.5M while production costs ballooned 115% to $2.3M.

Val Ackerman’s salary went down 28% compared to 2022 to $1.16M while all salaries jumped from $5.6M to $6.2M.

Conclusion

The Big East is doing historically well financially in the areas where it counts. The caveat, as always, is historically well isn’t close to keeping up with the P4. Yes, the P4 has football expenses, which dwarf anything we see in basketball, but the pot football pulls from, with an expanded playoff and new TV deals, continues to grow.

Now add in the NCAA Settlement that will diminish what the NCAA pays out over the next decade to the Big East by 18% or so, and it’s clear why so much of the Big East’s future is riding on a potential increase in the upcoming TV contract.