Finances

Most NCAA revenue comes from a 14-year, $10.8 billion agreement with Turner Broadcasting and CBS Sports for rights to the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. That agreement was signed in April 2010 and runs through 2023-24. Projected NCAA revenue for 2011-12 is $777 million, $700 million of which (90 percent) is projected to come from media rights payments.

On Dec. 15, 2011, the NCAA and ESPN announced a $500 million multiyear agreement through 2023-24 for worldwide, multimedia rights to 24 NCAA championships and exclusive multimedia rights outside the United States, its territories and Bermuda for the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. The new agreement, which took effect immediately, also provides expanded coverage of each round of the NIT Season Tip-Off and all games from the NIT Postseason Tournament across the ESPN networks.

ESPN will provide final-round coverage for the following 24 NCAA championships:

• Fall – Division I women’s soccer; Division I men’s soccer; Division I women’s volleyball; Division I football (FCS); Division II football and Division III football
• Winter - Division I men’s and women’s indoor track and field; Division I men’s and women’s swimming and diving; Division I women’s basketball; Division I wrestling; Division I men’s ice hockey; National Collegiate women’s bowling; National Collegiate women’s gymnastics and National Collegiate men’s and women’s fencing
• Spring – National Collegiate men’s volleyball; Division I men’s and women’s lacrosse; Division I men’s and women’s outdoor track and field; Division I softball and Division I baseball

For 2010-11, the most recent year for which final numbers are available, the NCAA spent a total of $100.7 million on championships. Of that, $68.3 million (67 percent) was spent on Division I and National Collegiate championships, $15.9 million on Division II championships (16 percent) and $16.5 million on Division III championships (17 percent).

The NCAA covers travel expenses for the official travel party (mostly student-athletes and coaches) at virtually every round of every NCAA championship. For 2010-11, the total was $74 million − $30.4 million for per diem and $44 million for travel. Per diem allowances vary from division to division; they are paid directly to the competing institutions and not to the individuals. In recent years, these costs have shown a trend of increasing. For example, per diem expenditures were $28.3 million in 2008-09 and $28.4 million in 2009-10. Travel costs were $37.3 million in 2008-09 and rose to $41.2 million the next year. 

Non-rights revenue from NCAA championships for 2010-11, the most recent year for which complete numbers are available, was $85.9 million. That figure includes ticket sales, apparel sales, concessions and the like.