College sports are a money-making enterprise. In the revenue-sharing era, deep pockets prevail when it’s time to build a roster. Some schools in the SEC have more money to work with thanks to generous donors. It’s an uphill climb for Kentucky against its SEC competition.
Thanks to open records requests from Al.com’s Matt Stahl, we can see which SEC programs get a financial leg-up thanks to boosters. The only omission from the data is Vanderbilt, a private institution that is not subject to open records laws.
In 2025, Kentucky received $32,657,330 in athletic donations. That sounds like a lot, but it ranks second-to-last in the SEC, ahead of only South Carolina at $17.5 million. Furthermore, Kentucky was one of only three schools in the SEC that did not receive contributions specifically earmarked for the football program, joining Arkansas and Mississippi State…