Seeing all the arguments below about where the conferences were financially 15 years ago, I decided to do some research. It took some digging, but I eventually found a web site (https://projects.propublica.org) that has a database of federal tax returns for non-profits.

Search on the name of the non-profit -- in this case, your favorite athletic conference -- and you can find tax returns going back quite a few years.

I pulled up the 2002 tax returns (form 990) for the six major conferences at the time -- ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, SEC, and Pac12.

Note that the Big East is actually filed under the American Athletic Conference, which absorbed all the Big East history. (The current Big East is a brand new conference, so only has a couple years of tax returns available.)

I will not bury the lede, but instead will start with information that is being argued the most:

2002 Average Per-school Distribution by the Major Conferences:
ACC: $10.8 million
Big Ten: $10 million
SEC: $8.6 million
Pac 10: $7.2 million
Big 12: $6.4 million
Big East: $4.1 million

Here's the detailed information, with conferences listed in alphabetical order (not sorted by revenue, expenses, etc.)

2002 revenues by conference
ACC: $109.1 million
Big 12: $98.1 million
Big East: $68.4 million
Big Ten: $117 million
Pac 12: $76.8 million
SEC: $122.5 million

2002 expenses by conference
ACC: $107.7 million
Big 12: $97.3 million
Big East: $69 million
Big Ten: $116.6 million
Pac 12: $76.7 million
SEC: $117.3 million

2002 profit (revenue minus expenses) by conference
ACC: $1.4 million
Big 12: $800k
Big East: -($600k)
Big Ten: $400k
Pac 12: $100k
SEC: $5.2 million

The total amount distributed to members, number of teams, per-team allocation, and max and min.

ACC:
Total Distribution: $97.2 million
# of schools: 9
Per-school average: $10.8 million
Max: $11.3 million (FSU)
Min: $9.8 million (UNC)

Big 12:
Total Distribution: $77.3 million
# of schools: 12
Per-school average: $6.4 million
Max: $7.9 million (Oklahoma)
Min: $4.7 million (Baylor)

Big East:
Total Distribution: $61.6 million
# of schools: 15
Per-school average: $4.1 million
Max: $8.6 million (Miami, BE football champs)
Min: $2 million (several basketball schools)

Big Ten:
Total Distribution: $109.8 million
# of schools: 11
Per-school average: $9.98 million
Max: $10.04 million (Wisconsin)
Min: $9.9 million (Michigan)

Pac 12 (Pac 10):
Total Distribution: $72.3 million
# of schools: 10
Per-school average: $7.2 million
Max: $9.98 million (USC)
Min: $5.8 million (Cal)

SEC:
Total Distribution: $103 million
# of schools: 12
Per-school average: $8.6 million
Max: $9.3 million (Auburn, Florida)
Min: $6.3 million (Kentucky)


[Post edited by Will Stewart at 04/10/2017 11:32AM]