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Last Updated on December 2, 2020
Quite frequently in the debate over the BCS there are comparisons to March Madness. Proponents of moving to a playoff system point to the approximately $771 million a year (beginning in 2011) March Madness generates in television alone (previously an average of $545 million). Meanwhile, the BCS bowls will generate just $125 million beginning in 2011 (previously$96.4 million per year ).
While it’s true March Madness generates more television revenue overall, that doesn’t necessarily mean more money for each athletic department. A total of $452,200,000 was distributed by the NCAA in 2010-2011, and less than half of all monies distributed went back into the athletic department with no strings attached (via the Basketball Fund). Here’s the breakdown:
Basketball Fund ($180,467,000): Monies are distributed based on a six-year rolling period. Institutions receive one unit for each appearance, not including the championship game. Each unit was worth $239,664 in 2010-2011.
Academic Enhancement ($22,461,000): Each Division I institution gets $66,000 to use for academic support service for student-athletes.
Conference Grants ($8,115,000): Each conference receives $261,744 less an agreed upon amount remitted to the regional officiating advisors program. Funds must be used to improve officiating, enhance conference compliance and enforcement programs, drug abuse education, enhancement of opportunities for ethnic minorities, and development of gambling education programs.
Sports Sponsorship Fund ($60,155,000): Each school’s share is determined based on the number of varsity sports sponsored. Points begin with the 14th sport (the number required in Division I), and $30,091 is distributed for each sport above thirteen. These monies may be directed to individual institutions or to the conference for distribution, as decided upon by each conference.
Grants-In-Aid Fund ($120,309,000): Each school’s share is determined based on the number of grants-in-aid awarded. These monies may be directed to individual institutions or to the conference for distribution, as decided upon by each conference.
Student Assistance Fund ($59,738,000): This fund also consists of the Special Assistance Fund and the Student-Athlete Opportunity Fund. For the Student Assistance Fund, all athletes are eligible to receive these funds, even if they have exhausted eligibility or no longer participate due to medical reasons. These monies are distributed to the conference who decides how to allocate. This fund is to be used to assist student-athletes with financial needs that “arise in conjunction with participation in intercollegiate athletics, enrollment in an academic curriculum or that recognize academic achievement. The Student-Athlete Opportunity Fund is distributed by conferences based on the formula used for sports sponsorship and grants-in-aid. The Special Assistance Fund is to be used to meet student-athlete financial needs of an emergency or essential nature for which other financial aid is not available.
Supplemental Support Fund ($955,000): Used to support campus-based initiatives designed to foster student-athlete academic success at eligible limited resource institutions.
At the end of the day, most conferences receive larger payouts from the BCS than March Madness when it comes to money going back into the athletic department with no strings attached. Below is a look at the payouts for the past four years. Totals in red reflect conferences who received a larger payout from basketball than football for the given year. You should also note the football payouts indicated for the non-AQ conferences (Mountain West, Mid-American, Sun Belt, C-USA and Western Athletic) are based on the payout from the BCS before the agreement between the conferences to split BCS money equally between all non-AQ conferences kicks in. Also, these numbers do not include payouts for non-BCS bowl games.
| ACC | 2006-2007 | 2007-2008 | 2008-2009 | 2009-2010 |
| Football | $18,088,675 | $18,324,992 | $18,672,725 | $19,787,058 |
| Basketball | $14,149,120 | $15,090,053 | $15,863,538 | $18,220,902 |
| Difference | $3,939,555 | $3,234,939 | $2,809,187 | $1,566,156 |
| Big 10 | 2006-2007 | 2007-2008 | 2008-2009 | 2009-2010 |
| Football | $22,588,675 | $22,824,992 | $23,172,725 | $24,287,058 |
| Basketball | $13,087,936 | $13,561,946 | $13,803,338 | $15,332,222 |
| Difference | $9,500,739 | $9,263,046 | $9,369,387 | $8,954,836 |
| Big 12 | 2006-2007 | 2007-2008 | 2008-2009 | 2009-2010 |
| Football | $18,088,675 | $22,824,992 | $23,172,725 | $19,787,058 |
| Basketball | $14,325,984 | $15,663,093 | $16,275,578 | $17,109,871 |
| Difference | $3,762,691 | $7,161,899 | $6,897,147 | $2,677,187 |
| Big East | 2006-2007 | 2007-2008 | 2008-2009 | 2009-2010 |
| Football | $18,088,675 | $18,324,992 | $18,672,725 | $19,787,058 |
| Basketball | $14,856,576 | $16,618,160 | $19,365,880 | $23,109,436 |
| Difference | $3,232,099 | $1,706,832 | ($693,155) | ($3,322,378) |
| Pac 10 | 2006-2007 | 2007-2008 | 2008-2009 | 2009-2010 |
| Football | $18,088,675 | $18,324,992 | $18,672,743 | $19,787,058 |
| Basketball | $11,849,888 | $12,606,880 | $13,391,298 | $14,665,604 |
| Difference | $6,238,787 | $5,718,112 | $5,281,445 | $5,121,454 |
| SEC | 2006-2007 | 2007-2008 | 2008-2009 | 2009-2010 |
| Football | $22,588,675 | $22,824,992 | $23,172,725 | $24,287,058 |
| Basketball | $13,087,936 | $14,708,026 | $15,657,518 | $15,110,015 |
| Difference | $9,500,739 | $8,116,966 | $7,515,207 | $9,177,043 |
| Mountain West | 2006-2007 | 2007-2008 | 2008-2009 | 2009-2010 |
| Football | $3,529,600 | $3,724,000 | $9,788,800 | $9,878,710 |
| Basketball | $3,183,552 | $4,011,280 | $4,120,399 | $3,999,710 |
| Difference | $346,048 | ($287,280) | $5,668,401 | $5,879,000 |
| Mid-American | 2006-2007 | 2007-2008 | 2008-2009 | 2009-2010 |
| Football | $1,964,800 | $1,508,000 | $2,094,400 | $2,139,355 |
| Basketball | $1,945,504 | $1,910,133 | $1,442,140 | $1,333,237 |
| Difference | $19,296 | ($402,133) | $652,260 | $806,118 |
| Sun Belt | 2006-2007 | 2007-2008 | 2008-2009 | 2009-2010 |
| Football | $1,443,200 | $2,062,000 | $1,529,600 | $1,559,570 |
| Basketball | $1,061,184 | $1,146,080 | $1,854,180 | $2,222,061 |
| Difference | $382,016 | $915,920 | ($324,580) | ($662,491) |
| C-USA | 2006-2007 | 2007-2008 | 2008-2009 | 2009-2010 |
| Football | $2,486,400 | $2,616,000 | $2,659,200 | $2,719,140 |
| Basketball | $7,782,016 | $8,213,573 | $9,064,879 | $8,507,523 |
| Difference | ($5,295,616) | ($5,597,573) | ($6,405,679) | ($5,788,383) |
| Western Athletic | 2006-2007 | 2007-2008 | 2008-2009 | 2009-2010 |
| Football | $9,008,000 | $9,170,000 | $3,224,000 | $7,798,925 |
| Basketball | $3,006,688 | $3,247,227 | $3,090,300 | $3,110,886 |
| Difference | $6,001,312 | $5,922,773 | $133,700 | $4,688,039 |
I think it’s interesting to note that AQ football conferences are bringing in more from March Madness than non-AQ football conferences. Some of that has to do with the smaller size of some of the non-AQ conferences, but it’s still rather sizeable disparity. Nonetheless, I imagine people still find the March Madness system more digestible because it is a playoff system and because payouts are based on number of appearances.
Special thanks to my research assistant Eric Heckman for helping me compile the data.
Matt
July 27, 2011The biggest difference is that March Madness pays Division II and III schools. If there was no Men’s NCAA Tournament there would be no Division II or III.
Kristi Dosh
July 27, 2011BCS pays $250,000 per FCS conference.
Matt
July 28, 2011FCS is not Division II or III
Mike Schulze
July 28, 2011Interesting to see breakdowns including revenue from all bowls as the non BCS bowls would not exist with a playoff (see NIT).