The SEC will deliver $23 million to UF and other universities within the conference in wake of the revenue losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference announced Wednesday.
The SEC will distribute $322 million total to the 14 members. The SEC said the distribution will be paid for with future revenues of media rights.
Each athletic program faced an estimated $45 million shortfall during the pandemic.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey released a statement to ESPN to give insight on the compensation.
"The extraordinary circumstances produced by the global pandemic have presented colleges and universities with an unprecedented disruption to their programs and budgets,” Sankey said, “This supplemental revenue distribution will help ensure each SEC member will continue to provide high levels of support to its student-athletes.”
Every university which receives compensation from the SEC can use the money however they please, but Sankey hopes that the grant will be used to "maintain each school's historically high standards for academic, athletic, medical, nutritional and mental health support for their student-athletes and help offset the significant costs associated with COVID testing during the 2020-21 athletic year."
“This immediate financial support will help our athletics programs address some of the current challenges they are facing while also ensuring each program remains well-positioned for future success,” Sankey added.
All NCAA winter and spring sports championships were canceled in 2020 and caused a 40% decrease in the annual NCAA distribution.
Due to this occurrence, the Student Assistance Fund was slashed from $87.1 million to $27.3 million. The program was created to assist students with insurance, clothes and other basic needs.
There has been no official statement in regards to how Florida will spend the $23 million. Check in for any future updates and statements from representatives of the university.
Contact Jesse Richardson at jrichardson@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter at @JesseRich352
