Some may be surprised to find out that the Big Ten in 2020 was atop the mountain of television revenue. Last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, many collegiate athletic departments suffered financially due to shortened schedules and capacity limitations inside stadiums.
Despite COVID-19 shutting down spectator participation during the 2020 season coupled with the Big Ten’s decision to begin conference play in October and also not schedule out-of-conference games, the Big Ten Conference still led all Power Five conferences in revenue according to a recent report by Steve Berkowitz of USA Today.
Much of this is attributable to the conference having contracts with the Big Ten Network, FOX and ESPN.