In a historic move, the NCAA on Wednesday approved financial rewards — or tournament “units” — for teams participating and succeeding in the Division I women’s basketball tournament.
As reported by Bryan Fischer of Sports Illustrated, the change was inspired by pandemic-era complaints of disparate amenities between the men's and women's tournaments and now not only brings a level of parity with the men’s tournament but incentivizes schools to invest in their women's programs to an even greater extent.
“It was historic. It was monumental. There’s tons of adjectives we can use around that. Personally also, it was somewhat emotional because it’s been a really long road,” NCAA vice president for women’s basketball Lynn Holzman said, as reported by SI. “It often takes a significant moment in time for a really major pivot to occur. And around the pandemic and the championship in San Antonio was really that point in time. There was work and efforts prior to that being done and we were growing the sport. We were growing the championships. But the significance of that is that it certainly brought more visibility, public scrutiny and attention by leaders with college athletics and the public at large."
Once Sedona Prince, then a University of Oregon player, posted images of meager weight room facilities at the 2021 women's tournament, the NCAA was compelled to rectify that and other situations, such as unequal gift packages for men's and women's tournament participants and the forbidding of the women's tournament from affiliating with March Madness branding.
“Four years later, you see all the progress that has been made and this was a significant component of the gender equity report that still needed to be addressed head on," Holzman said. "Our membership today spoke to that.”
The units will be first earned based on play during this season’s tournament, concluding with the Final Four in Tampa during the first week in April. Schools will receive their cut of a $15 million pot starting in 2026 with structured payments distributed over the ensuing three years.
The overall value of the fund the money is distributed from is set to escalate to $25 million in 2027–28, largely the result of increased media rights revenue from the NCAA’s new deal with ESPN, Fischer reported.
“This is a historic day for women’s sports, women’s basketball and the NCAA,” NCAA president Charlie Baker said. “We have made investing in women’s sports a priority, and today’s vote means our members have the opportunity to do even more on campus to promote and support female athletes. I can’t wait to see all the incredible things they do.”
After the proposal was ratified unanimously, rapturous applause overtook the room, Fischer reported.
“Conversations around having a distribution fund for women’s basketball started, about 25 years ago or so,” Holzman said. “It really, that is the type of hope and the type of effect that people were thinking it could have on campus, and at the conference level, to really continue to invest and elevate the sport—we hope that’s what continues to happen.”
