Women’s basketball teams will now receive payment for participating in the NCAA Tournament each March, a change that aligns with the compensation structure for men’s teams that has been in place for years. This plan was approved at the NCAA convention on Wednesday.
The decision by NCAA membership marks an important milestone in ensuring equitable pay for women’s March Madness participants. The proposal was initially supported by the Division I Board of Governors in August and has now been officially ratified.
Under this new system, performance units representing revenue will be allocated to women’s teams competing in the tournament. For example, a women’s basketball team reaching the Final Four stands to generate approximately $1.26 million for its conference over a three-year period through financial performance incentives.
In the inaugural year, $15 million will be distributed to teams from the fund, accounting for 26% of the women’s basketball media revenue agreement. This amount will increase to $25 million, or 41% of the revenue, by 2028, mirroring the initial distribution numbers for men’s basketball teams when the performance units program was first established.
These changes will take effect in March during the 43rd year of the women’s NCAA Tournament. The absence of a units system for the women’s tournament has been a subject of significant criticism in the past.
Louisville coach Jeff Walz commented, “It’s great that women’s basketball is finally receiving the deserved financial recognition for NCAA postseason achievements.”
The structure of the women’s March Madness plan closely mirrors that of the men’s basketball unit program. Each of the 32 conferences receiving an automatic bid to the tournament will be granted a unit, with additional units awarded to teams securing at-large bids to the 68-team field.
As schools progress further in the tournament, their respective conferences will accumulate more units. Conferences retain the authority to determine how unit revenue is distributed among their members. In the 2024 men’s tournament, each unit was valued at around $2 million.
Currently, men’s basketball teams receive 24% of the media rights deal, totaling $8.8 billion over eight years starting from this year. In contrast, women’s basketball is valued at approximately $65 million per tournament in the NCAA’s new media rights agreement with ESPN — a significant increase compared to the previous contract.
The revenue sharing initiative for March Madness has been a longstanding practice in men’s basketball. For instance, the 2018 tournament generated $844.3 million in television and marketing rights, primarily from a broadcasting deal with CBS and Turner Sports.
The majority of these funds flow through the NCAA to conferences and subsequently to member schools, the majority of which operate Division I basketball programs eligible for tournament participation. The schools typically reinvest these earnings into athletics, encompassing scholarships, coaching salaries, facilities, and other resources.
The women’s tournament recently experienced its most successful year, including record-breaking viewership numbers for the championship game and overall increased attendance. These developments signify a positive trend for women’s college basketball.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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