The Sun Belt Conference has made strides in the college football landscape. The proof is in its share of money from the College Football Playoff.

According to a source close to the Sun Belt, the conference will receive $17.2 million for the 2018 football season, which is the third-highest figure among the Group of Five conferences. The Mountain West will receive the highest amount with $20.4 million, followed by the American Athletic Conference with $18.8 million.

The Sun Belt’s share is about $2 million higher than Conference USA ($15.6 million) and more than $3 million higher than the Mid-American Conference ($14 million).

The Sun Belt has received the third-highest G5 payout in two of the past three seasons, according to the source. The first of which came after the 2016 season. When contacted by the Journal, Commissioner Karl Benson of the Sun Belt confirmed the conference’s amount.

“It’s public information, and it’s information that is relevant,” Benson said. “I think it clearly demonstrates that Sun Belt football is trending upwards and has established itself as a very credible and viable conference in major college football.”

Benson is set to retire on June 30, ending his seven-year tenure leading the conference.

The Sun Belt will disperse the CFP money evenly among its member schools. Athletics departments can use that money for anything, such as increasing assistant coach salary pools or balancing Title IX obligations.

The Group of Five is getting $86 million from the College Football Playoff this season, about $70 million of which will be divided evenly amount the five leagues. The remaining $16 million is dispersed based off of performance rankings by the six computer polls formerly used by the Bowl Championship Series — Anderson & Hester, Billingsley Report, Colley Matrix, Massey College Football Ratings, Sagarin Ratings, and Wolfe.