Mark Schlabach ESPN Senior Writer 2 Minute Read

The Southeastern Conference distributed about $604.1 million of total revenue among its 14 member institutions for the 2017-18 fiscal year, an average of about $43.1 million per school.

In an announcement Friday, SEC officials said that total was an increase from an average distribution of $40.9 million in 2016-17.

The league said the 2017-18 total does not include $23 million that was retained by its schools to offset travel and bowl-related expenses.

"The distribution of revenue to the SEC's member institutions represents a continued conference-wide commitment to support of our student-athletes in all areas of their college experience," SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement.

"This revenue is essential in providing outstanding support for all of the young people on our campuses through coaching, equipment, training, academic counseling, medical care and life-skills development."

The SEC distributions include revenue generated from TV agreements, postseason bowl games, the College Football Playoff and SEC and NCAA championships in other sports.

The SEC has long led the Power Five conferences in revenue distribution to its schools, but the Big Ten was expected to surpass it during the 2018 fiscal year.

In June 2018, The Detroit News reported that Michigan's athletics department expected to receive about $51 million from the Big Ten in 2018 and $52 million in 2019. The Big Ten distributed about $37 million to most of its schools in 2017.

The Big 12 announced in June that it would distribute an average of about $36.5 million to its schools for the 2017-18 fiscal year; that total did not include third-tier TV rights for each school, such as the Longhorn Network.

The Pac-12 projected distributions of about $33.5 million per school in fiscal year 2018, and the ACC anticipated average distributions of about $28 million.