For the first time in its history, the women’s NCAA basketball tournament will offer prize payouts to successful teams—modeled after a system that men’s teams have enjoyed for decades.
The NCAA will award $15 million to conferences for sending more than one women’s program to the Big Dance, and additional funds for programs that survive and advance. Next year, the pool will increase to $20 million, and in 2027, it will go up to $25 million. After that, the pool will increase by 2.9% per year, the same amount as the men’s system.
The women’s format will mirror the men’s payout distribution. All conferences will receive a payout for being tournament-eligible. Then, conferences earn one “unit” for each team that makes the Big Dance, with the exception of the automatic qualifier (the conference tournament champion). This year, a “unit” is worth about $100,000.
The Big Ten sent 12 teams, the most of any league, and the SEC sent 10—earning both more than $1 million. The ACC is third with eight bids and should make just under a million dollars. The Big 12 wound up with seven bids, and the Ivy League notched three.
Teams then earn units for each game they win, all the way up to the national championship game.
Gender Equity Scandal
The units system was a recommendation made in the Kaplan, Hecker, and Fink gender equity report in 2021, commissioned by theNCAA after equity issues were exposed between the men’s and women’s tournaments. South Carolina coach Dawn Staley has called it the most important equity improvement the NCAA could make.
The governing body didn’t implement the system right away, however, saying the units system had to derive from a more lucrative women’s media rights deal. The NCAA got its new package in 2024, inking a deal with ESPN for 40 championships that values the women’s tournament at $65 million per year.
