Before that happened basketball made the most money on television. The ACC and the Big East made the most from television in the 1980s yes. But once the court decision came down allowing he CFA to break up and the conferences to make their own football deals, the Big Ten and SEC had the upper hand. The ACC probably would have been able to keep up more if Miami and FSU didn't flop in the early 2000s in football. We had USC and Texas dominate followed by the SEC. But I still think that the SEC and Big Ten Schools still made more back then, perhaps not by conference payout, but by ticket sales to their huge stadiums. That's why the SEC teams had to maximize home games and rarely played on the road. I think the article is talking about payout from the conference television contracts. Yes there was a time when college basketball made more than college football on television when the NCAA controlled the television for college football.