The rich are getting a whole lot richer.
On Thursday, Associated Press reporter Eric Olson detailed the eye-popping financial windfall the Big Ten received from a massive March Madness, which culminated this week with wins in both the women’s and men’s NCAA Tournaments.
On Sunday, the UCLA Bruins, who joined the conference in 2024, became the first Big Ten program to win the women’s NCAA Tournament since the Purdue Boilermakers (1999). The following day, the Michigan Wolverines won the conference’s first title on the men’s side since the Michigan State Spartans (2000).
According to Olson, the Big Ten earned a whopping $69.4M from its magnificent March, which may only help the conference further separate itself from its rivals.
Big Ten earns massive sum for hugely successful March Madness
Olson detailed the math behind how NCAA Tournament funds are allocated, with each team on the men’s side receiving $2.1M — dispersed over a six-year period — simply for making the field, in what is referred to as a “unit.” Each tournament win earns the conference another unit, with the national champion ultimately receiving seven units, which amounts to $14.7M over six years.
The women’s tournament offers lower payouts — roughly $201,000 over a three-year period — with the discrepancy attributed to sizable differences in media rights deals. Per the men’s tournament’s deal, Turner and CBS paid $1.02 billion for 2026 rights, while the women’s tourney just wrapped the second year as part of a broader NCAA media deal on a valuation of $65M per year.
The NCAA pays conferences, who divvy up the money as agreed upon by its members. With multiple Big Ten programs set to cash in over the coming years thanks to a wildly successful March, the conference, which also has won the past three college football national championships, could be well-positioned to remain the top power conference of the revenue-share era.
While programs have a cap on how much they can spend on rosters, the money earned from the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments can help improve facilities and other amenities to make the universities even more attractive to prospective athletes.
The Big Ten has become synonymous with success in recent years, and thanks to a massive influx of cash coming from an epic March Madness, it won’t change meanings in the thesaurus anytime soon.
