How Will Full SEC Share Benefit Oklahoma Football?

 Oklahoma made the decision to leap early to the SEC moving the timetable up from July 2025 to July 2024, despite knowing that it would create a significant financial burden.

That hit, though, would be a short-term one, with the gains in conference revenue distribution quickly making up for that initial shortfall.

The Sooners’ athletic program received just $12.5 million in conference distributions in the 2025 fiscal year, leading to an athletic-department deficit of nearly $44 million.

But now, Oklahoma will move to a full SEC revenue share.

Last season, the conference distributed $1.03 billion, an increase of more than $200 million from the previous year.

Each school that received a full share — all conference members except for OU and Texas — received an average of $72.4 million.

That number figures to continue to grow in the future, a big difference from the Big 12. The Sooners received just less than $40 million from the conference in their final year in the Big 12.

The shift in revenue from the SEC figures to affect all sports at Oklahoma, but none figure to be impacted more than football.

In the first of a series looking at the impacts of the move, we look at how the Sooners’ football team could be affected:

Revenue Distribution to Athletes

Oklahoma’s year of financial pain wasn’t exactly helped by the implementation of revenue sharing with athletes.

OU planned to distribute the maximum $20.5 million to athletes in the wake of the House settlement, with football players receiving the lion’s share — around 75% — of that number.

While that number is capped, it will continue to grow at least 4% each year. 

So having the full share won’t change the expenditure, but it will lighten the load elsewhere in the budget and help keep the full share flowing.

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Stadium Upgrades/Facilities

In November, the OU Board of Regents approved renovations to the west side of Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

The project, which is expected to begin following the 2027 season, is expected to cost $450 million. 

A new press box will be the most noticeable upgrade in the renovations, and will also include plenty of new suites and loge boxes — adding another significant revenue stream.

Athletic director Roger Denny, who came aboard after the project was announced, told SoonerScoop recently that he was evaluating input from fans about the renovations and could alter parts of the project, including the expected 7,000-seat decrease in capacity that was announced.

Denny has said he’s a proponent of small, incremental upgrade projects instead of saving up for major ones every decade or so. 

While this project figures to happen, Denny could find ways to make other upgrades to the stadium and other football facilities before and during this major project and having the conference revenue stream will help.

Staffing

Oklahoma’s football staff has grown significantly under Brent Venables.

That ramped up even more with the addition of general manager Jim Nagy last year.

Nagy’s front-office staff has been one of the driving forces behind the Sooners’ success not only on the field last season but in recruiting.

That doesn’t come cheap.

Reaching the full revenue distribution will help the Sooners maintain those staffing levels and hang on to staff that otherwise could look for better paydays elsewhere in college or professional football.

It remains to be seen exactly what Denny’s financial approach will be.

Joe Castiglione made it a point to keep the athletic department from taking university funds in the way of student fees, etc.

That approach is harder to maintain in the current climate in college athletics but either way, making more money from the conference compared to their time in the Big 12 and their first year in the SEC will help those efforts.