6 College Conferences Rake In $145 Million From Bowl Games

WASHINGTON (CBS/AP) -- College football conferences will get a record take of about $170 million from this year's bowl games, including a new high of $24.7 million for the five conferences that don't get automatic bids to the Bowl Championship Series.

The figures were obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press ahead of their official release by BCS officials.

BCS officials say the figures were fueled by the new television contract with ESPN.

In addition, the five conferences that don't get automatic bids were helped by the automatic berth earned by Texas Christian University.

Those conferences got slightly more than last year's $24 million.

The six conferences that get automatic bids took in about $145 million. They sent nine of the 10 teams to the BCS bowl games this year.

The Pac-10, SEC and Big-10 took home the biggest payout ... $27.2 million each.