Who knew that actually winning March Madness was the easy part?
The annual college basketball tournament generates about $1 billion (£712 million) every year, though figuring out how much the colleges earn from it can be complex. What makes the situation even more complicated is the fact that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization and makes money off of the popular basketball tournament and little else.
The NCAA recently released a financial audit that revealed just how it generates revenue from its tournaments across all sports, with the bulk of the revenue coming from a lucrative rights deal with CBS/Turner for the men’s March …show more content…
The team didn’t make the tournament from 1991 to 1995 and, being independent at the time, missed out in unit payouts. However, despite missing the tournament again this year, the team can still reap the financial benefits brought by other ACC teams that competed in the tournament.
Currently, no teams operate independently in Division I college basketball. The revenue distribution model, not surprisingly, strongly dissuades teams from leaving conferences.
For teams that have enjoyed a lot of tournament success, however, the payout system can also feel unfair. The Gonzaga Bulldogs men’s basketball team, for example, regularly pulls in large amounts of units for the West Coast Conference thanks to its consistent success and deep March Madness runs. The team, however, still has to share some of those funding units with less competitive teams despite clearly being the dominant team in its conference.
What is March Madness?
March Madness is the name of the annual NCAA Division I single elimination basketball tournament that determines the top college basketball teams in the United States for both men’s and women’s