The Tournament is a Money-Making Machine

The Big Dance Keeps NCAA Flourishing Financially

The NCAA is big business as in a billion-dollar enterprise. While individual schools may see red due to expenses incurred by different sports, the NCAA has no such problems. In the most recently announced financials, the NCAA net worth generated nearly $1.3 billion in revenue, about half going back to member schools. Still, there is plenty of money left to keep the business in the black.

Much of the revenue is generated by TV and media rights deals from the best college basketball rankings. They will continue to grow as college sports events are box-office bonanzas for television networks in the highly competitive marketplace. There are also sponsorships and ticket sales that add funds to the event and that definitely increases when March Madness starts.

What Does NCAA Stand For?

NCAA stands for National Collegiate Athletic Association. It has been and will be for the foreseeable future the umbrella under which colleges and college sports operate. The NCAA sets laws and regulations for schools and athletes. Things have changed recently with the advent of NIL but the NCAA remains the governing body that can investigate and penalize schools that run afoul of its laws. 

A report from February 2024 indicated the NCAA “distributed $669 million to 363 Division I member schools and another $192 million to stage Division I championship events, the men's basketball National Invitational Tournament and other related programs.

More than $100 million was also spent on Division II and III championships and programs, including some distributions back to Division II schools.”

What Is The Main Source of Revenue for the NCAA?

Television and media rights deals bring most of the money into the NCAA. This is where things get dicey because conferences like the Big Ten and SEC are always floating ideas about breaking off and becoming independent or forming a super conference. Should that happen it would impact the rights deals in ways that are currently uncertain. What is known is any fracture of the NCAA through Division 1 conferences looking to create their own path would be seriously damaging to the NCAA as a whole.

How Big is March Madness?

How about HUGE? Investopedia reported the NCAA reaps around $1 billion in media rights, merchandise sales, and sponsorships. The same report indicated that in 2023 more than $15.5 billion was wagered on the tournament.

There is the game-to-game and futures wagering that takes place. And then there are the bracket contests on the professional and personal level where people try and predict the results of every game of the tournament correctly. For those wanting to add to the excitement, you can find March Madness betting lines to make each game even more thrilling.

It would not be unfair to say the brackets and tournament wagering have become the backbone for college basketball wagering. The regular season starts in November and goes until mid-March often competition with other sports events that force college hoops into the background. However, the March Madness bracket and tourney betting have people riveted to the games.

How Does March Madness Work?

The NCAA tournament involves a combination of how teams play in the regular season and conference tournaments. Schools that win conference tournaments are entitled to the automatic bid for that group. 

There are mid-majors and lower-level conferences that depend on these automatic bids to be a part of college basketball’s biggest collective event.

On “Selection Sunday” schools find out if they have received at-large bids if they did not earn an automatic spot. The schools are then seeded in groups of quadrants, ranked by how their overall play was during the season.

What is interesting is how the tournament continues to percolate and bubble. It is at 68 teams currently with their being “First Four” games played to get those schools into the actual body of the tournament.

The Big Dance

Once down to 64 teams, college basketball’s showcase starts on Thursday and Friday with 16 games played on each of the first two days of the tournament. On Saturday and Sunday, there are eight more games on each played to determine the “Sweet 16.” What is fascinating is that the first four days or so of the tournament are more compelling in many ways than the rest because of the level of activity.

The Sweet 16 boils to the “Elite Eight” over another Thursday and Friday of play. Then, there is the Final Four with two games on Saturday before the national championship college basketball game on a Monday night.