In a decades-long quest for reform in the NCAA, it can often be difficult to trace a tangible change to a single moment.
In women’s basketball, however, you don’t have to go far back for a spark that brought significant change. It was former Oregon Ducks basketball player Sedona Prince’s social media posts during the pandemic-limited 2021 NCAA women’s tournament that had far-reaching impact.
Prince, now with the TCU Horned Frogs and is a named plaintiff in the lawsuit typically referred to as House v. NCAA, called attention to the meager weight room provided to female athletes in the San Antonio pandemic bubble for the tournament. Not only was it subpar by any measure, it was a sharp contrast to the amenities for the men’s tournament going on at the same time.
The indignity over such unequal conditions for women’s athletes was swift and loud. The NCAA vowed to address it and the broader issues with gender equity in the sport, talking to dozens of leaders and commissioning an outside report that detailed problems and offered a slew of solutions.
Some were simple to enact, such as better weight rooms and the same gift packages for men’s and women’s players. Others included a full rebranding of the women’s tournament to use the umbrella term of March Madness that was previously off limits.
On Wednesday afternoon in Nashville, one of the largest and most substantial pieces of those recommendations inspired by Prince’s posts became reality. The NCAA approved financial rewards—or tournament “units”—for teams participating and succeeding in the Division I women’s basketball tournament. The move brings a level of parity with the men’s tournament and adds an incentive for schools to invest in their 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 says. “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.
“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. 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.
“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.”
Numerous former women’s basketball players in the room recognized the significance of the moment and spoke to the long journey it took to get to this point.
UC Santa Barbara athletic director Kelly Barsky noted her time as a basketball player at Keene State College helped shape her outlook on college athletics as she introduced the proposal. Baylor president and NCAA Board of Governors chair Linda Livingstone joked about her own career on the hard court as she memorably seconded the motion that opened it up to a formal vote of the membership.
After the announcement the proposal was approved and ratified unanimously, rapturous applause overtook the room.
“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.”
The most-watched game in women’s college hoops history has been set and re-broken numerous times in just the past two seasons. Sponsorship and ticketing sales have skyrocketed to the point where most consider it a revenue sport alongside men’s basketball and football. There has never been a greater interest into what’s transpiring on the court from both the general public and administrators tasked with guiding basketball even further into the future.
Wednesday’s vote signified another step in the right direction, sparked by calling attention to an issue few knew about enough to care. That is no longer in question now, as change has arrived both relatively swiftly and with much more impact than most thought possible.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as NCAA Approves Women’s Basketball Tournament Financial Units.