Gap in payouts growing wider
It’s becoming harder for smaller conferences to keep up with the big ones
Powered by Ja Morant’s no-look passes and Dylan Windler’s stepback 3s, March Madness has been a bonanza for the Ohio Valley Conference.
The league placed two teams in the NCA A men’s basketball tournament for the first time in 32 years. Then Morant’s Murray State Racers and Windler’s Belmont Bruins both won games during the first week of play, making them darlings for underdog-loving fans everywhere.
That’s over now — both teams lost their second tournament game. But the big payoff for the conference’s 12 schools comes over the next six years, a windfall of at least $6.77 million that starts in 2020 with a $1.1 million payment from the NCAA.
Every year, millions of dollars are distributed to 32 Division I conferences by the NCA A based on what teams get into the tournament and how far they advance. Last year it was $216 million.
The hoops showcase is the centerpiece of the NCAA’S revenue. And in recent years, the portion of those funds going to the five most powerful conferences in college sports have increased, according to an AP analysis of more than $3 billion in payments distributed from 1997-2018.
For leagues outside the wealthiest, an upset or elusive at-large bid is like winning the lottery. Already at a huge disadvantage, it is becoming harder for teams in smaller conferences to keep up. Windfalls like the one heading toward the Ohio Valley have become even more important to mid-major hoops.
“We have to take advantage of this moment,” Ohio Valley Conference commissioner Beth Debauche said hours before Murray State was eliminated by Florida State on Saturday. “We will start as soon as this tournament run ends, talking about what this means and how we can build upon it.”
It all points to a long-term problem for mid-majors trying to compete as power conferences stockpile wins and at-large invites to the tournament: It takes revenue to build a program that can compete with the big boys. For those with less, it is becoming harder to generate more.
“It is a vicious cycle,” Atlantic Sun commissioner Ted Gumbart said.
The 2018 tournament brought in $844.3 million in television and marketing rights, the vast majority from a contract with CBS and Turner Sports to televise the games. That deal grows annually, its latest extension worth $8.8 billion over eight years, starting in 2024.
Most of the money flows back to 1,200 members. The schools mostly re-invest in athletics, from scholarships for athletes in all sports — though not salaries — to coaching salaries, training facilities, stadiums, ballparks and arenas.
From 1997-2018, the Big Ten Conference has been paid the most at $340 million, while the Southwestern Athletic Conference has earned $25 million, nearly the minimum it can earn given that all leagues make money from their teams that qualify automatically.
Since massive realignment among college conference in 2012-2014, Power Five schools from the Atlantic Coast, Southeastern, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 have earned even more under the system of “units,” the term used by the NCA A to tally the performance payouts.