GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida Today has learned that the 12 presidents at the Southeastern Conference schools agreed on Monday in a meeting in Atlanta that they will take a portion of new TV deals with CBS and ESPN away from athletics and use the money to help academic departments.

The ESPN contract is worth more than $2 billion over 15 years, starting in 2009. The new 15-year deal with CBS is valued at about $55 million per year for the league.

Florida president Dr. Bernie Machen revealed the plan after a press conference on Tuesday, during which the school announced a drive to raise $50 million for its Opportunity Scholars Program. The fundraising efforts for scholarships, which are non-sports related, will be co-chaired by Gators basketball coach Billy Donovan and football coach Urban Meyer.

Donovan talked today about seeing so many kids while recruiting that were gifted in other areas than sports and it upset him that he knew they weren't able to go to college because of finances.

"A lot of times I go into a high school to see a really gifted kid (athletically), and you see so many kids in the same situation, but this young man happens to play the game of basketball at a higher level than some," Donovan said. "But here are some other guys that are on the team or at the school that are just as gifted (academically), or more, but they can't come to a place like Florida. Now Florida is providing a platform for so many to explore, develop and accomplish something. Who knows what can happen with this program? You can have someone who is a CEO of some huge corporation all of a sudden be a spokesperson and be able to provide a very powerful story. I think this program is going to be a tremendous inspiration for a lot of people."

The program provides assistance to Florida students admitted to UF whose annual household income falls below $40,000 and whose parents don't hold bachelor's degrees. There are 1,100 students enrolled at Florida through the program at a cost of $5.7 million.

"It's not a gift," said Meyer of worthy students, "it's a reward."

The Atlanta meeting was greeted with the same enthusiasm from SEC presidents, who feel athletics in the SEC — especially given the new huge TV deals — needs to start helping more.

"We are committed," said Machen, of the decision to take part of the TV money for each SEC school's academic programs. " And there will be something (announced later). That money is going to be used in part — depending on the institution — to support the academic mission of the university. It's a huge amount of money and it's a long enough period of time that the athletic programs can budget. We know what the funding is and that source is going to be over a 15-year period."

Especially with a struggling economy, Machen feels the time has arrived for high-profile coaches and sports programs around the nation to get more involved in supporting the academic side of schools. Machen said it took him "about 30 seconds" to get both to agree to help.