Industry sources indicate Big 12 is expected to announce next week revenue distribution of $33M-34M per school, up from $30.4M last year.

— Chuck Carlton (@ChuckCarltonDMN) May 26, 2017

The Big 12 has a round of meetings this week in Dallas, and the league’s executives will have a news conference later this afternoon. There are no seismic issues to deal with, like expansion or membership loyalty, and time will be devoted to minor but important matters like details for football’s championship game and probably scheduling structures. The big news, I am certain, will be the payouts.

The SEC — the Big Bad of college sports — cut checks for about $40 million per school. That’s a big number and a big deal. The Big 12 is going to be right there. The SEC, ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 hold the Tier 3 rights of member schools. The Big 12 does not. If the projection is accurate, WVU’s deal with IMG College alone will push its sum to an SEC level.

The Big 12 needs this news. It’s taken a gavel to the head in the court of public opinion for far too long, and it’s almost become stylish to poke fun at the league for how it structures its football conference or how many players are picked in the NFL draft. Despite all the trappings, it can’t be disputed that the league is a financial success and is leaving other conferences in its rear view mirror.