NCAA women's basketball teams will earn postseason game money

For the first time, women's college basketball teams will earn money for winning games in the NCAA Tournament. This change comes after years of advocacy for equal treatment in sports. Starting this year, teams will receive payment for their performance in tournament games, excluding the championship game. The NCAA introduced a “unit” system, similar to what has been in place for men’s teams since 1991. Each unit represents a share of television revenue from the tournament, which will amount to $15 million this year. This amount is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. The change was necessary due to the long-standing inequality in funding for women's sports. Between 1997 and 2018, men's teams in the Big Ten alone earned about $340 million from the tournament, while women’s teams earned nothing. The NCAA faced pressure to address these discrepancies after players highlighted unfair treatment during the 2021 tournament. In response, the NCAA conducted a gender equity assessment revealing serious inequalities in how revenue was distributed. This year, the NCAA will pay out units to women's teams over the next three years. The payout structure is capped at $15 million this year, which is 26% of the NCAA's annual revenue from the women’s tournament media rights deal. However, men’s teams have a far larger revenue pool, with a single unit valued at around $2 million compared to $114,000 for women’s teams. Experts believe this disparity is unjust, as women’s basketball has also attracted large audiences. Last year, the women's championship game had higher viewership than the men's final. Observers are curious if the NCAA will eventually create separate media rights deals for women's basketball or keep it bundled with other sports. Despite the ongoing differences in payouts, many see this new payment system for women's teams as a positive step towards equality in sports.