Power Five conference revenues slowed by COVID-19 pandemic, tax records show

The early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic all but halted the Power Five college sports conferences’ seemingly unstoppable revenue growth, new federal tax records show.

After averaging collective annual increases of nearly $252 million over the previous six years, the conferences’ combined revenue rose by less than $11 million in fiscal 2020 and remained just over $2.9 billion. Two of the five saw income declines, and another operated at a modest loss even though its revenue increased.

The conferences other than the Southeastern provided their new returns this week in response to requests from USA TODAY Sports. The SEC made its return public in early February.

The documents provided new information about commissioners’ pre-pandemic pay and their employment statuses. They also revealed fresh insight into the conferences’ total spending on lobbying related to legislation concerning athletes’ ability to make money from their name, image and likeness.

Pay for the Big Ten’s new commissioner, Kevin Warren, was disclosed for the first time on the conference’s new return. Although his biography on the conference’s website says he “officially began his tenure” on Jan. 2, 2020, the return says his start date was Sept. 16, 2019, and he was credited with a total of nearly $1.2 million for the calendar year. Annualized, that’s about $4.1 million.

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