The Southeastern Conference released its fiscal 2016 federal tax returns yesterday and, yes, it does “mean more” to be a League member – a lot more. As USAToday put it:

The SEC is the first conference to release its tax records for the 2016 fiscal year, but its revenue distributions —– helped by the burgeoning SEC Network — may swamp those of even other Power Five conferences. In fiscal 2015, the Big Ten distributed about $32.4 million to each of its 11 longest-standing members. The other three power conferences distributed millions less per school.

For another point of comparison, consider that the SEC’s 2016 revenue was roughly two-thirds of the $952 million that the NCAA reported on its most recently available tax returm, which covered a period ending Aug. 31, 2015.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/sec/2017/02/02/sec-tax-return-639-million-in-revenues-2016-fiscal-year/97400990/

The SEC’s revenue total comes from its television agreements, bowl agreements, the College Football Playoff, conference championship events in football and men’s basketball, NCAA championships and a supplemental surplus distribution. The distribution total doesn’t include $7.8 million in NCAA grants split among the SEC’s 14 member schools.

The SEC currently distributes the most revenue, on average, to its members. The Big Ten is second after distributing $34.8 million to its fully vested members in its 2016 fiscal year, the most recent to be reported.

http://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/22288788/sec-generated-5969-million-revenue-2016-17