The number had been whispered, rumored, reported, projected and, in some circles, expected.

Fifty million.

The Big Ten would distribute $50 million to each campus in the 2018 fiscal year — an increase of approximately 40 percent year-over-year resulting from a new TV deal with Fox .

Late last week, the momentous payout was confirmed.

Michigan’s annual financial presentation to the university’s regents showed a $51 million distribution from the conference for FY18 (via the Detroit News) and a projected payout of $52 million for FY19.

Those numbers place the B1G on different tier from even the SEC. They also help fill in more pixels in the financial image of the Power Five — and, more specifically, the Pac-12’s place therein.

In recent weeks, we’ve heard a university president (Washington State’s Kirk Schulz) express concern about conference distributions and an athletic director (Arizona State’s Ray Anderson) voice dissatisfaction with the Pac-12 Networks revenue.

Why does that particular cash path — from the conference to the campuses — matter?

Distributions from HQ, which includes revenue from media rights, the College Football Playoff and March Madness, makes up 25 to 50 percent of athletic department income for Pac-12 schools.

Smaller distributions than Power Five peers make it more difficult to compete for coaches, to build facilities, to schedule for success — non-conference games aren’t cheap — and to provide competitive training, nutrition and wellness opportunities for athletes.

(Money = resources = recruiting = success = more money.)

Once the Big Ten’s big number became official via Michigan’s presentation, the Hotline decided context was necessary:

Exactly how will the Pac-12 payouts compare to those of the other Power Fives over the course of the next six years — until the end of the Pac-12’s current Tier I contracts with ESPN and Fox?

The comps below assume that the rates of increase in payouts remain constant across the conferences.

There will undoubtedly be some fluctuation — the size of a payout in 2022, for example, will partly depend on success in College Football Playoffs and NCAA tournaments that have not yet been played.

But those fluctuations should be incremental over the sweep of our timeframe: The media rights contracts, which are signed and sealed, will make up the bulk of the annual distributions.

Notes on the following:

* Each conference reports on a different schedule, so projections are necessary in some cases.

* Pac-12 projection of $33.5 million for FY18 constitutes an 8.4 percent increase over the confirmed FY17 figure of $30.9 million. (The majority of the increase is sourced in the escalator clause in the Tier I deal.)

* To repeat: Projections assume comparable rates of increase across all conference.

*** Pac-12 vs. Big Ten

Big Ten: $51 million per school in FY18 (confirmed; see above link to Detroit News)

Pac-12: $33.5 million per school in FY18 (projected)

FY18 difference per school: $17.5 million

Pac-12 cumulative per-school deficit from FY19 to FY24 (example: USC vs. Ohio State): $105 million

*** Pac-12 vs. SEC

SEC: $42 million per school in FY18 (projected)

Pac-12: $33.5 million per school in FY18 (projected)

FY18 difference per school: $8.5 million

Pac-12 cumulative per-school deficit from FY19 to FY24 (example: Washington vs. LSU): $51 million

*** Pac-12 vs. Big 12

Big 12: $38 million per school in FY18 (confirmed)

Pac-12: $33.5 million per school in FY18 (projected)

FY18 difference per school: $4.5 million

Pac-12 cumulative per-school deficit from FY19 to FY24 (for example: Utah vs. Oklahoma State): $27 million

(Note: Big 12 figure includes an average of $1.5 million per school in Tier III media rights, which are generated on the campus level and not distributed by the conference office. Texas and Oklahoma collect far more annually through their deals with ESPN and Fox, respectively, but most schools are believed to earn $1 million – $2 million in net profit from local rights.)

*** Pac-12 vs. ACC

Pac-12: $33.5 million in FY18 (projected)

ACC: $28 million per school in FY18 (projected)

FY18 difference per school: $5.5 million

Pac-12 cumulative per-school deficit from FY19 to FY24 (for example: Arizona State vs. Wake Forest): $10 million

(Note: ACC Network launches in FY20, at which point school distributions are expected to jump to approximately $40 million. The Pac-12 total deficit of $10 million includes one year without, and five years with, the ACC Network.)

The situation, as it appears, should be deeply concerning for Pac-12 schools.

As we’ve stated before, commissioner Larry Scott, through sound strategy and good fortune, got the best deal possible on the Tier I contracts (from a valuation standpoint) with Fox and ESPN.

The Pac-12 Networks, however, aren’t providing nearly the same return to campuses as comparable ventures in the other conferences.

(That fact will be hammered home, yet again, when the ACC Network launches next year and immediately zooms past the Pac-12 Networks in the cash distributed.)

The Hotline first sounded the revenue alarm three years ago with an analysis of projected media revenue (i.e., football and basketball postseason cash excluded).

The conference disagreed with my conclusions back then and continues to be optimistic about the Pac-12 Networks’ business model and the value of Pac-12 content during the next Tier I negotiations.

And yes: All signs point to a slew of bidders (legacy and new media) for the Pac-12 media rights starting in FY25 — the value of live sports is only increasing.

But it’s worth noting that the future value of Pac-12 content will be inexorably tied to football success … and football success depends on resources … and resources are linked, in part, to conference distributions.

In other words, the revenue deficit facing athletic departments over the next six years could adversely affect the football product to such an extent that the conference doesn’t get max value for the content.

That’s not necessarily the likely outcome, but it cannot be discounted as a possibility.

Six years is a long time, and the clock ticks more slowly on the campuses than it does in the conference office.

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