NCAA, ESPN reach new $920M media rights deal, which includes WCWS
Less than a year after the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, softball and women’s volleyball championships all drew record-breaking television ratings, the NCAA has a new media rights deal to broadcast its postseason sports outside of the Bowl Subdivision football and the men’s basketball tournament.
And while it’s significantly more than the last, it’s also considerably less than some were expecting.
The NCAA announced Thursday a new deal with ESPN that will cover 40 of its championships throughout the U.S. — 21 women’s events and 19 men’s — that is worth a reported $920 million over eight years, or $115 million per year,
according to Sports Business Journal.
The new deal is worth almost three times the current contract, which checks in at about $40 million annually.
While it’s certainly a major step forward — ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro called it “unprecedented” and new NCAA president Charlie Baker praised ESPN’s commitment to women’s sports in particular — it is significantly less than studies have shown it was worth.
In 2021, after inequities at the men’s and women’s tournaments were detailed on social media by some of the top women’s players in the country, the NCAA commissioned a report to study the difference in the value of men’s and women’s sports. The Kaplan Report found that the NCAA significantly undervalues women’s basketball. It encouraged the organization to break out women’s basketball separately from all the other championships, estimating that women’s hoops alone was worth $81 to $112 million. Instead, women’s basketball will stay with all the other NCAA championships under the ESPN umbrella.
The agreement begins Sept. 1, 2024. According to a release from the NCAA it includes exclusive coverage of all rounds of the women’s basketball, softball and volleyball tournaments, plus gymnastics, baseball and Championship Subdivision football. It adds coverage of men’s and women’s tennis team championships and the men’s gymnastics championship. Additionally, it includes full rights for the men’s National Invitational Tournament, Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament and international rights for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.