March Madness will pay women’s teams under new NCAA-approved structure

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Women’s basketball teams will finally be paid to play in NCAA Tournament games each March, just like the men have done for years under a plan approved Wednesday at the NCAA convention.

The unanimous vote by NCAA members, which was met with a round of applause, was the final step toward a pay structure for women playing in March Madness after the The Division I Board of Governors voted unanimously for the proposal in August.

NCAA President Charlie Baker joined others in recognizing the creation of a performance fund to those who came before him and helped grow women’s basketball.

“We’re the lucky ones,” Baker said. “We need to be here the day this becomes a reality.” »

There is now work to be done to continue investing in women’s basketball to further develop the sport.

“That’s what I hope is that one day someone will say about us that they’re sitting on the shoulders of the work that we’ve done,” Baker said.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, whose Gamecocks remained undefeated winning last year’s national championship and his third overall, said his first thought upon hearing the vote was a simple “YES!”

“This continues our fight to elevate women’s basketball to historic levels,” Staley said. “I appreciate the decision of Kaplan Hecker and Fink law firm to include the lack of units in its report as a key issue preventing women’s basketball from capitalizing on historic viewership and quality on-court product.

Performance units, which represent income, will be given to women’s teams participating in the tournament which begins this year, the 43rd edition of the event. A team that reaches the Final Four could earn its conference about $1.26 million over the next three years in financial performance awards.

In the first year, $15 million will be awarded to teams from the fund, representing 26% of women’s basketball media revenue. That amount will reach $25 million, or 41% of revenue, by 2028. That 26% is comparable to what men’s basketball teams received the first year the performance unit program was created.

Teams participating in this March’s NCAA Tournament won’t actually get paid until the organization has a full tournament of data available.

Still, North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart, who is also president of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, called the reality of the postseason units a great day and a reward for athletic departments’ investment in the women’s basketball.

“The long-awaited, hard-earned and well-deserved day has arrived,” Banghart said. “I am very grateful for the efforts of so many people to bring this reality to our sport. Women’s basketball is more popular than ever, seats are filled, stadiums are sold out, and games are on national television almost every night.

The proposal was split into two votes Wednesday, the first dealing with payments from the next NCAA tournament. This proposal received a “no”, although the vote in favor of creating the women’s fund itself received a “yes” from the 292 members present.

“It’s great that women’s basketball receives the much-deserved financial reward for its success in the NCAA postseason,” Louisville coach Jeff Walz said.

Women’s March Madness plan is similar to men’s basketball unity program. Each of the 32 conferences that receive an automatic bid to the tournament will receive one unit, and additional units will be awarded to teams that receive an at-large bid out of all 68 teams.

The longer a school’s tournament lasts, the more units the school’s conference receives. The conferences decide on the distribution of unit income to each of its members. Each unit was worth approximately $2 million for the 2024 men’s tournament.

Men’s basketball teams now receive 24 percent of the media rights deal, which totals $8.8 billion over eight years, starting this year. Women’s basketball is valued at $65 million per tournament in the United States. New NCAA Media Rights Deal with ESPN — or around 10 times more than in the contract which ends this year.

Women have a higher percentage of media revenue to reinforce the value of each performance unit.

The NCAA shares March Madness revenue with its member schools. has long been a feature of the men’s tournament. The 2018 tournament, for example, grossed $844.3 million in television and marketing rights, the vast majority coming from a contract with CBS and Turner Sports to televise the games.

Most of the money flows through the NCAA to conferences and then back to member schools, more than 300 of which field Division I basketball teams eligible to compete in the tournament. Schools primarily reinvest in athletics, from scholarships for athletes in all sports to coaches’ salaries to practice facilities, stadiums, baseball fields and arenas.

Shea Ralph, Vanderbilt coach won a national title playing at UConn and helped the Huskies win six more championships as an assistant coach. She ended Vanderbilt’s NCAA tournament drought last year and called Wednesday’s vote a testament to “decades” of hard work.

“It’s an exciting time to compete for a spot in the NCAA Tournament,” Ralph said.

Julie Roe Lach, Horizon League commissioner and member of the Division I women’s basketball oversight committee, called the creation of the fund “a big step” not only for women’s basketball but also for women’s sports. in general, towards the goal of gender equity.

As women’s college basketball “grows in popularity,” Lach said they can’t just celebrate this moment.

“Like the men’s basketball fund, the women’s basketball funds are unrestricted, meaning conferences and institutions can choose how to invest these additional dollars,” said Lach, who noted that the Horizon League had policies ready to reward programs for strong schedules, performances and performances. playoff success.

The women’s tournament has just had the most successful year in its history, including a record audience of 18.7 million for the title game won by South Carolina against Iowa and Caitlin Clarkthe highest for a basketball broadcast of any kind in five years.

This went beyond the men’s championship match… UConn wins its second consecutive title with a victory over Purdue — by nearly 3 million viewers. The women’s tournament also included record attendance.

NCAA Ratings

In another important step, Division I approved a women’s wrestling championship. Divisions II and III will vote on its addition in the coming days. …SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said any changes to the College Football Playoff would require unanimous approval. The most likely change to be considered immediately would be a change in distribution. The top four seeds in this year’s tournament all received byes and all lost their first matches. … Discussions over new rules that would give athletes five years to complete five years of eligibility continue. DI Board Chairman Josh Whitman, Illinois AD, said, “One of the attractive things, whether it’s a 5 for 5, or whatever it is, is that we can maybe create something simpler, cleaner, simpler. easier to understand.

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AP Basketball Writer Doug Feinberg in Miami and AP National Writer Eddie Pells in Nashville contributed to this report.

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