NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Women’s basketball teams will be paid for playing games in the NCAA tournament each March just like the men have for years under a plan approved Wednesday at the NCAA convention.
The unanimous vote by NCAA membership was the final step toward a pay structure for women playing in March Madness after the Division I Board of Governors voted unanimously for the proposal in August.
Now, so-called performance units, which represent revenue, will be given to women’s teams playing in the tournament. A women’s basketball team that reaches the Final Four could bring its conference roughly $1.26 million over the next three years in financial performance rewards.
In the first year, $15 million will be awarded to teams out of the fund, which is 26% of the women’s basketball media revenue deal. That will grow to $25 million, or 41% of the revenue, by 2028. The 26% is on par with what men’s basketball teams received the first year the performance units program was established.
This will start in March in the 43rd year of the women’s NCAA tournament. The NCAA sharing March Madness revenue with its member schools has long been a feature of the men’s tournament. The lack of a units system for the women’s tournament has been a point of sharp criticism.
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