Some financial facts and figures from the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament
Here’s a financial note about one or more schools from each seed line in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament. Unless otherwise stated, all financial data is from each school’s NCAA financial reports for the 2022 fiscal year, which ended June 30, 2022.
On3 obtained the NCAA financial reports for 38 of the 68 teams in the women’s field; 20 of the schools are private institutions and exempt from public-records requests. Financial reports don’t always paint the complete picture of an athletic department’s financial status and since accounting interpretations can vary from school to school, it can be challenging to make comparisons.
Women’s basketball budgets are about 45 percent smaller than men’s basketball budgets, based on the latest financial data obtained from roughly 80 percent of the public schools in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament. In the men’s tournament, a conference receives one “unit,” worth more than $339,000 this year, when a member school plays a game (except for the national championship game). But there aren’t similar payouts tied to success in the women’s tournament.
No. 1 seeds: Reigning national champion and No. 1 overall seed South Carolina reported more than $9.5 million in women’s basketball expenses last year, which is the most of any school for whom On3 obtained data. Coaching and support staff salaries made up more than $5.3 million of South Carolina’s total.
No. 2 seeds: The reported women’s basketball-related spending for No. 2 seeds Maryland, UConn and Utah is roughly 36 percent of each school’s men’s program. Weirdly, Maryland and UConn’s percentage was exactly 35.81 percent. Iowa, the other No. 2 seed, checked in at 58 percent. UConn’s women’s basketball spending last year represented 9.2 percent of the athletic department’s overall spending, which was the second-highest percentage On3 found among public schools in this year’s field. A statement that UConn provided along with its NCAA financial report ended with the sentence, “At a time when budgets of ‘Power 5’ conference members have increased substantially and in some cases are nearing $200M, UConn athletics continues to find ways to remain competitive nationally with far less.”
No. 3 seeds: Last season, the first of coach Kim Mulkey’s tenure, LSU reported women’s basketball spending of $8.3 million, which was 84 percent of the men’s program’s expenses. It was the highest percentage On3 found of any high-major program in the tournament. For reference, the average among the public schools for whom On3 has data is roughly 56 percent.
No. 4 seeds: Tennessee’s reported women’s basketball ticket sales revenue increased by $655,009 from the 2020-21 fiscal year to 2021-22. The Volunteers reported $1.2 million last year, which marked a return to the pre-pandemic number from 2019-20, which was also $1.2 million.
No. 5 seeds: Louisville’s men’s basketball program went 4-28 this season; the Cardinals’ women’s program has four wins in the past three weeks. The ratio of Louisville’s women’s basketball-to-men’s basketball expenses ranks as the lowest among the nearly 40 schools examined from the women’s basketball tournament. The women’s program’s expenses are 31.6 percent of the men’s, roughly 24 percentage points behind the average. Louisville reported $4.9 million in men’s basketball severance payments last year and $5.6 million in facilities, debt service and administrative expenses.
No. 6 seeds: Just 2.55 percent of Michigan’s athletic department spending last year was attributed to the women’s basketball program, the third-lowest among the 38 public schools in the tournament that On3 examined and higher than only Alabama and Ohio State. Then again, that equates to $4.9 million in a $193-million budget. The Wolverines’ women’s basketball expenses are 225 percent more than that of their first-round opponent, No. 11 seed UNLV.
No. 7 seeds: Three of the four No. 7 seeds are public schools and each school’s women’s basketball program fits a similar financial profile. Arizona, Florida State and NC State reported between $5.1 million and $5.7 million in total expenses, including coaching salaries between $1.7 million and $2.2 million. For reference, the public schools that earned top-four seeds spent an average of $6.7 million on women’s basketball, including more than $8 million by South Carolina, UConn, Texas and LSU.
No. 8 seeds: Ole Miss’ $8.5 million in total expenses last year were behind only South Carolina ($9.5 million) and Texas ($8.9 million) among the schools examined. The Rebels reported the most in recruiting expenses at $418,399, which includes transportation, lodging, meals, phone charges, postage and the value of the use of vehicles and airplanes, including those owned by or loaned to the school.
No. 9 seeds: South Dakota State, which won the Summit League title, reported $365,165 in ticket sales revenue, which includes sales from members of the public, faculty and student body, plus shipping and handling fees. That total was in line with the average among schools in the women’s field (roughly $366,000) and it made up the bulk of the program’s $374,000 in reported revenue.
No. 10 seeds: Despite being the lower-seeded team in its first-round, high-major matchup against No. 7 seed Florida State, Georgia’s women’s basketball budget was 20 percent greater than that of Florida State’s. The difference is $6.8 million compared to $5.7 million. The Bulldogs reported spending roughly $1.9 million more on coaching salaries.
No. 11 seeds: NCAA financial reports define “contributions” as amounts received for athletics operations, amounts received above face value for tickets and funds contributed for athletic facilities, which were also used by the department in the same year. This definition makes it challenging to try to compare contributions from school to school, but Illinois reported $4.1 million in contributions specifically to the women’s basketball program last year. Thirty-seven other public schools for whom On3 obtained financial data combined to report $8.8 million in contributions for women’s basketball.
No. 12 seeds: Florida Gulf Coast’s women’s basketball expenses made up 11.1 percent of the athletic department’s total spending, the highest percentage of any team examined.
No. 13 seeds: AAC commissioner Mike Aresco has made another public push against the notion of the Power 5. East Carolina, which won the AAC tournament, faces No. 4 seed Texas in the first round. The Pirates’ women’s basketball spending is just 29 percent of the Longhorns.
No. 14 seeds: Hawaii was the only university that provided a copy of its latest NCAA financial report with redactions for how much it spent on coaches and support staff. The Rainbow Warriors’ reported spending on women’s basketball last year was $2.3 million; coaching salaries among tournament teams examined made up an average of 37 percent of total spending.
No. 15 seeds: The No. 15 seeds spent an average of just over $1 million each on women’s basketball in 2021, which is the most recently available data from the U.S. Department of Education’s Equity in Athletics Data Analysis. Gardner-Webb’s website says the school has 3,178 students. Its first-round opponent, No. 2 seed Utah, reported 9,611 fans in attendance on senior day.
No. 16 seeds: Norfolk State’s reported spending on women’s basketball last year was 14.6 percent, or roughly one-seventh, of No. 1 seed South Carolina’s spending, making it the largest percentage gap On3 found between two public schools that play in the first round. Southern University led the way among tournament teams in the ratio of its women’s basketball to men’s basketball expenses, as the women’s program expenses were a bit more than 94 percent of the men’s program’s expenses.