The NCAA is for the first time rewarding conferences financially for their performance in the women’s basketball tournament. And like it was on the men’s side this year, the SEC will be the top earner.
Following years of public pressure—and coinciding with the start of a new TV deal—the NCAA this year implemented a “units” system for teams in women’s March Madness. Under the plan, each conference will eventually be paid about $252,000 for every game its teams play in the 2025 event before the final. Now that the Final Four is set with South Carolina, Texas, UCLA and UConn, those payouts can be fully calculated.
The SEC, which placed 10 teams in the tournament, will play 30 games before the final and therefore earn 30 units, good for an eventual $7.6 million. That success was bolstered by two Final Four teams, South Carolina and Texas. The Big Ten, represented by UCLA in the Final Four, is next at 28 units for $7.1 million. The ACC is third at 19 units for $4.8 million.
Among the notable other conferences to benefit financially was the Ivy League, which earned four units, the sixth-highest total in the tournament. By quirk of how the NCAA’s system was set up, games played in this tournament will be more valuable than any other women’s tournament in the near future, making this year in particular especially impactful for the Ivy League, which qualified a conference-record three teams. Twenty-one conferences earned the bare minimum single unit for one game played.
Sportico will be publishing daily stories about March Madness throughout the men’s and women’s tournaments. To receive them in your inbox daily, sign up here via Club Sportico.
The women’s payouts function similarly to the men’s unit system, which has been in place since 1991. The shift in policy came amid broader criticism in recent years for inequality in how the NCAA treats its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. NCAA president Charlie Baker announced it was in the works last April, shortly after the organization signed a new $920 million ESPN media rights deal that included the women’s event. When the structure was formally announced in January, Baker called the news “a historic day for women’s sports.”
The men’s units are derived from a pool of money that is hundreds of millions of dollars, and they cover six years worth of units. The women’s pool is $15 million for 2025-26, which will go to units from this year’s tournament only. It will grow to $20 million in 2026-27, which will go towards units from two tournaments, then to $25 million in 2027-28, which will will go towards units from three tournaments. At that point, the pool will continue to tick up at the same rate as the men’s funds, historically about 2.9% per year, continually paying out for the prior three tournaments.
Games played in this tournament will therefore pay a conference $113,636 next year, $75,757 the year after and $63,131 in the 2027-28 season, for a grand total of $252,524 per contest. Because the system is just being set up and the pool is only divvied up this year by one tournament, units earned in this year’s event will actually be worth more than they will in any tournament until 2037, per Sportico‘s calculations.
The whole process is complex, but in its simplest form: In the 2025 men’s tournament, every game prior to the final is worth an eventual $2 million for a conference. In the 2025 women’s tournament, every game prior to the final will be worth an eventual $252,524.
The SEC, which placed a record 14 teams in men’s March Madness, was also the big winner there. The conference earned a record 35 units this year, which will eventually be worth about $70 million.
