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NCAA president expects women’s basketball tournament units to pass

NCAA president expects women’s basketball tournament units to pass

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NCAA President Charlie Baker and a member of the Division I Board of Governors said Wednesday they do not foresee any problems in gaining final approval of the proposed revenue distribution for schools and conferences based on the performance of teams in the women’s basketball tournament.

The board voted Tuesday to advance the proposal, which must now go to the NCAA Board of Governors and the entire Division I membership. The Board of Governors will meet Thursday and the membership vote will occur at the NCAA convention in January.

“I would be surprised if this thing has any issues,” Baker said during a video conference.

“I think everybody sees this as a great opportunity to take advantage of a new eight-year, $920 million TV deal with ESPN that includes the rights to the women’s basketball tournament, and I think (the proposed new distribution) should be given as much priority as possible,” said Central Arkansas President Houston Davis, who chairs the Board of Governors committee that developed the proposal and is a member of the Board of Governors.

Baker said the concept is “very high on my priority list” when he becomes NCAA president in March 2023 and “reflects the growth of the game and allows schools that are particularly successful in the tournament to benefit financially and reinvest in their programs.”

“I think it’s critically important for us and for the sport in general and for women’s sports, because this is the premier women’s collegiate athletics event in some ways every year. And I think it’s going to become even more important from here on out, which is going to be great.”

Baker and Davis provided other details about the proposal, which would see schools start earning credit for their performance in the 2025 tournament and payments begin in 2026. The pool of money to be distributed would be $15 million in 2026, $20 million in 2027 and $25 million in 2028, according to a statement from the NCAA on Tuesday. After that, the pool would grow at a rate of about 2.9% annually, which the NCAA said is “the same rate as all other Division I” shared revenue pools.

The money will be allocated the same way a similar performance-based pool from the men’s basketball tournament has been distributed for years: 132 units will be allocated each year. Each participating conference will receive one unit, plus an additional unit for each win by one of its teams until the Final Four.

The unit values ​​will change each year, and conferences will receive their total payout from the NCAA and divide it among the schools.

Regarding the goal of $25 million in the third year and the basis for subsequent increases, Davis said: ““We were very proud of the fact that 25 (million) would create a larger percentage of usable resources than what we had set aside for men’s basketball and those distributions. I think 25 (million) became a possible and reasonable target for us to make a meaningful impact.”

According to figures from financial statements and Division I revenue distribution plans audited by the NCAA, the annual amount of the men’s basketball tournament performance pool equals slightly more than 20% of what the NCAA receives each year from CBS and now Warner Bros. Discovery for a package that includes broadcast rights to the Division I men’s basketball tournament and broad marketing rights associated with other NCAA championships. In 2024, that total was $873 million, with the performance pool scheduled to be $171 million.

In 2025, CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery are scheduled to pay $995 million.

The NCAA spends $65 million of ESPN’s $115 million annual average on the women’s basketball tournament.

The sweeping deal with CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery is scheduled to run through 2032, and Baker said the NCAA’s desire to “create a separate value for the women’s basketball tournament” was one reason the association negotiated for the new deal with ESPN to also expire in 2032.