Big Ten's Jim Delany enjoys huge jump in base compensation

Steve Berkowitz | USA TODAY Sports

Big Ten Conference commissioner Jim Delany's base compensation increased by $800,000 to nearly $2.1 million during the 2013 calendar year, according to the conference's new federal tax return.

Delany was credited with nearly $3.4 million in total compensation for the year on the new return, including a $1 million bonus. However, the return also stated that more than $830,000 of the total had been reported as deferred compensation on prior years' returns.

Big Ten deputy commissioner Brad Traviolia described the $1 million bonus as the payout of deferred pay and a retention bonus. But he declined to provide details about the period of time over which the previously reported amounts had accrued or the rates at which they accrued.

As a private, non-profit organization, the conference is not required to make public its employment contracts.

The return, which the conference provided in response to a request from USA TODAY Sports, also shows that Big Ten had $338.9 million in total revenue for a fiscal year that ended June 30, 2014 -- its final year with 12 schools. That represents a more than $20.5 million increase over the conference's revenue for its 2013 fiscal year. (Under IRS rules, a non-profit must report its revenue and expense data based on its fiscal year; but it must report compensation data based on the calendar year completed during its fiscal year).

The Big Ten expanded to 14 teams at the beginning of the 2014-15 school year, with the addition of Maryland and Rutgers.

Its revenue for its 2014 fiscal year was about $13 million greater than that of the 14-team Southeastern Conference, which reported $325.9 million in revenue for a fiscal year that ended Aug. 31, 2014. The SEC's revenue for fiscal 2014 did not reflect any of the change in revenue being triggered by the start of the SEC Network this past August.

The Pac-12 reported just under $334 million in revenue for its 2013 fiscal year.

Delany's nearly 65% rise in base pay put that portion of his total compensation in same range as that of other commissioners of the five power conferences. For the 2013 calendar year, the SEC's Mike Slive had a base of just over $2 million (up from nearly $1.2 million in 2012) and the Big 12's Bob Bowlsby was at $1.8 million.

Those figures still trailed the 2012 calendar-year base pay for the Pac-12's Larry Scott and the ACC's John Swofford. Scott's base was $2.2 million and his total was more than $3.3 million (he also had the benefit of a nearly $1.9 million loan); Swofford's base was a little more than $2.1 million and his total nearly $2.2 million.

Each Big Ten school received about $27.6 million from the conference in fiscal 2014 except Nebraska, which is still receiving a partial share after moving from the Big 12 ($16.5 million in fiscal 2014), and Penn State, which received about $2.8 million less because NCAA sanctions made the Nittany Lions ineligible for football bowl games during that fiscal year.

The return also provided a window on the Big Ten Network's financial performance and impact for the conference. On a pre-tax basis, the conference's share of the network's profits was nearly $12.4 million. That's in addition to the annual rights fee the conference gets from the network.

This new figure means the conference's share of the network's profits was about $1 million less than it was in fiscal 2013, but the tax return showed that the conference now has accumulated more than $33.7 million in profit shares from the network in a holding company for future use.