Women’s basketball teams moved a step closer Tuesday to getting financially rewarded for success in the NCAA Tournament.
The Division I Board of Directors voted unanimously to introduce a proposal that will give performance units to teams that play in March Madness. Units represent revenue.
The proposal goes to the NCAA’s Board of Governors later this week to approve the allocation of funds, but approval is considered a formality. If approved by Division I membership in January, the plan would begin with the 2025 tournament.
“This is a momentous day, and the Division I Board of Directors Finance Committee is proud to have led the efforts that brought us to the introduction of this proposal,” said Houston Davis, president at Central Arkansas and chair of the committee. “If approved in January, these funds will again advance the NCAA’s efforts to support gender equity and continue investment in the sport of women’s basketball.”
The NCAA sharing March Madness revenue with its membership has long been a feature of the men’s tournament. The 2018 tournament, for example, brought in $844.3 million in television and marketing rights, the vast majority from a contract with CBS and Turner Sports to televise the games. The latest extension of that deal is worth $8.8 billion over eight years, starting this year.
Most of the money flows through the NCAA to conferences and then back to its member schools, more than 300 of which field Division I basketball teams eligible to play in the tournament. The schools mostly re-invest in athletics, from scholarships for athletes in all sports — though not salaries — to coaching salaries, training facilities, stadiums, ballparks and arenas.
The lack of a units system for the women’s tournament has been a point of sharp criticism.
What helped push it through now is the NCAA’s new media rights deal with ESPN that includes many women’s championships. Women’s basketball is valued at $65 million per tournament — roughly 10 times more than in the contract that ends this year.
“That made it possible for us to do the most important piece of this,” NCAA President Charlie Baker told AP at the Paris Olympics last week. “Being able to define what a units program would look like based on the revenue generated by the tournament.”
The women’s March Madness proposal mirrors the men’s program in many ways. Right now, every men’s team that reaches the NCAA Tournament currently receives the same amount of revenue (called a “unit″) for making the tournament.
The longer a school’s tournament run lasts the more units the school’s conference receives. Conferences decide the distribution of unit revenue to each of its members. Each unit was worth about $2 million for the 2023 men’s tourney.
The Division I Board said proposed funds for women’s basketball would begin at $15 million in the 2025-26 fiscal year, increase to $20 million for the 2026-27 fiscal year and reach the proposed $25 million starting with 2027-28. The women’s basketball funds would grow at the same rate as all other Division I funds, approximately 2.9% each year.
“The rewarding of the teams that participate in the NCAA Tournament is something that will have a significant impact on the sport,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma told The AP. “You will see an increase in the level of support for women’s basketball that has not been seen before. We should all be excited going forward.”
Distribution of the units is paid out over a six-year period on the men’s side, meaning this year conferences are earning money on units from 2018-2023.
College leaders may opt to have the women’s tourney units paid out over a shorter period of time, making the value of each one worth more. They also could decide to start payments in the same year that units are earned, rather than waiting a year as on the men’s side.
The women’s tournament is coming off its most successful year ever that included a record audience of 18.7 million for the title game win by South Carolina over Iowa, the highest for a basketball broadcast of any kind in five years. It outdrew the men’s championship game — UConn winning its second consecutive title with a win over Purdue — by nearly 3 million viewers. The women’s tournament also had record attendance.
“I think we have shown these last few years how exciting our game is and what happens when the investment is made,” Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “This is just another example of the growth of our game and how there is no better time to be part of women’s basketball.”
The Division I Board also announced Virginia Tech President Tim Sands was appointed to chairman. He will take over for Georgia President Jere Morehead and serve a one-year term.
AP College Sports Writer Ralph D. Russo contributed