Report: Nebraska Athletics Made Under $20 Million Dollars From The Big Ten In 2015

In a report put out by Scott Dochterman of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, the Big Ten Conference paid out $19.44 million dollars to the Nebraska Athletic Department in the 2015 fiscal year.

The Huskers, who are exactly two days and one year from being a fully vested member of the Conference and getting a fully vested share, had the second lowest payout of the entire conference, only beating Rutgers (LOL) in payouts from the B1G. The Scarlet Knights got a $10,449,000 sum from the conference.

If you're wondering what Maryland got in the deal, they actually got the most of the three "newcomers" in the B1G with nearly a $35 million dollar payout, however much of that was not kept by the school, rather a loan from the B1G which they will pay back when they become a fully vested member of the conference (six years)

Why are those numbers so different? According to B1G Deputy Commissioner Brad Traviolia, it's due to what the members would be making in the respective conferences from where they came from.

"We sat down with them in the negotiations of their final integration into the conference," said Big Ten deputy commissioner Brad Traviolia. "The Big Ten guaranteed that for a six-year period we would pay them the amounts at which their prior conference was projecting they would send to their member institutions over those six years.

"In Nebraska’s case, for the 2012 through ‘17 fiscal years, those numbers represent what the Big 12 at the time of negotiation was projected to send to their schools. Maryland had a different number. They had the ACC number, and Rutgers had the former Big East or the American conference projections at those times of the negotiations."

If you're wondering what the Big 12 paid their schools last season, the number from this mothership piece a couple days ago signaled that the number for the 10 schools was around $25 million, which sounds like the Huskers are getting shafted. But, also do realize that the number is based off of 2011's TV numbers. Yes, you'd like to get what Maryland got for sure. However, the advance payment that Maryland had to make to the ACC and such justified the bigger payment. Both Maryland and Rutgers will get that full check come 2020.

The 11 other members of the Big Ten earned around $32 million dollars on average. And, remember, there is more money coming with the new Fox/ESPN TV deal around the corner. The new deal should match what each B1G member got this year alone, and the revenue from the Big Ten Network should help drive that number up that even more.

Just one more full year for Nebraska, and then the rake of cash comes.