The Division I Board of Directors on Tuesday introduced a proposal that would create three additional units in both the Men's and Women's Basketball Performance Funds. If the measure is adopted by member schools and conferences, each team participating in a championship game would receive one additional unit, and the national champions would receive the final unit.
The additional units would be awarded starting with the 2026 NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Championships. If approved, and when combined with the recently approved women's basketball distribution funds, the NCAA would distribute more than $191 million in new revenue distributions to Division I members over the next seven years.
"As Division I sports move into a new era of increased financial benefits for student-athletes, the NCAA continues to grow revenues and limit expenses, allowing the national office to invest in championships in a fiscally responsible manner," said Mario Morris, chief financial officer for the NCAA. "While there are several more steps in the process, this is a significant positive development and, if ultimately approved, will further benefit Division I members."
Under the current unit structure in both men's and women's basketball, conference offices receive units for each game that one of their member schools participates in, up until the Final Four. For automatic qualifiers in their first game, the first unit is distributed from the Equal Conference Distribution Fund. For at-large bids, the unit for the first game is from the Basketball Performance Fund. Every subsequent game in which a team competes during the tournament earns a unit for their conference from the Basketball Performance Fund.
"Rewarding teams and the conferences they represent for wins they earn on the biggest of stages has always seemed like a sensible thing to do," said Bubba Cunningham, chair of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee and director of athletics at North Carolina. "With each conference annually receiving north of $300,000 per unit over a six-year period, and with three additional units up for grabs for competing in and winning the national championship game, once fully implemented, roughly $6 million will be distributed on an annual basis to the leagues whose teams win games at the Men's Final Four. This is a positive step in further supporting conferences, institutions and student-athletes."
Units are distributed on a six-year rolling basis in men's basketball and a three-year rolling basis in women's basketball. The women's basketball distribution funds were approved by NCAA members in January and will begin distributions starting in 2026 based on team participation and performance during the 2025 tournament.
"We continue to emphasize the importance of campus and conference investment in the growth of women's basketball, and adding new financial incentives in the Women's Basketball Performance Fund for playing in the championship game — and winning — is another important way for the Association to contribute to that effort," said Amanda Braun, incoming chair of the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee and director of athletics at Milwaukee.
Over the past 10 years in men's basketball, teams from seven conferences would have earned additional units: the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Mountain West, Southeastern and West Coast conferences. Six conferences would have earned units in women's basketball during the same decade. The Big East Conference in particular would have benefited with an additional eight units in each championship.
At the recommendation of the Division I Board of Directors Finance Committee, the board sponsored legislation to amend the revenue distribution formula to award the additional units. Because the three units per fund would constitute additional distributions to Division I schools each year, the NCAA Board of Governors will need to approve an allocation of Association-wide dollars to cover the cost of the new units without diluting the value of any current units. The Board of Governors is scheduled to meet Thursday.
NCAA rules require that any changes to revenue distribution within Division I be approved in a vote by all Division I members, using a one-school-one-vote formula. If the additional allocation of funds is approved by the Board of Governors, Division I members are expected to move forward with a vote during the NCAA Convention in January.
