The NCAA Board of Governors on Thursday unanimously approved $25 million in additional funding for Division I that will be put toward the creation of the women's basketball distribution funds.
The women's basketball funds — which were introduced as a proposal Tuesday by the Division I Board of Directors — will be considered in a Division I membership vote in January at the 2025 NCAA Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. If approved, programs participating in the 2025 Division I Women's Basketball Championship will begin earning "units" that will be paid out to their conferences starting in 2026.
"Investing in women's sports is a priority for the NCAA and for the Board of Governors," said Linda Livingstone, chair of the board and president at Baylor. "Women's sports — and women's basketball in particular — have seen an incredible trajectory in popularity in recent years, and these distribution funds for women's basketball performance should continue to encourage campus and conference-level investment in the women's game to continue that growth."
The increase in distributions to Division I for the women's basketball funds was recommended by the Board of Governors Finance and Audit Committee in late July.
