Here’s What a March Madness Run Is Worth

The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the sports calendar in 2020, forcing sports leagues to cancel and delay events for safety reasons. The first major sports event ruined by 2020 was the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. In hindsight, the cancellation of one of the biggest events of the year — March Madness — gave hints of how truly mad the entire year would be.

See: 8 Momentous Times Sports Were Canceled Throughout History

Although professional sports leagues were able to restart their competitions later in the year, the NCAA opted to not attempt a modified men’s basketball tourney. That decision caused a huge financial hit to the schools that would have participated, as the NCAA earns close to $1 billion from the tournament each year, which is roughly 75% of its overall revenue.

To determine how much each conference lost by missing out on the 2020 season (and what could be at stake again if the 2021 tourney has to be canceled), GOBankingRates looked at what each conference earned in 2019 and what that amount would have been in 2020. Each game appearance (considered a “unit”) earned $280,300 per school in 2019 and would have earned $282,100 in 2020.

Read on for a conference-by-conference look at how lucrative the NCAA tournament can be.

Last updated: Dec. 4, 2020

Big Ten

• How much money conference will receive every year for next 6 years for 2019 performance: $5,886,300
• Total earnings over those 6 years: $35,317,800
• Teams in the 2019 tournament: 8
• Total units amassed in 2019 tournament: 21
• 2020 potential earnings lost over 6 years: $35,544,600

ACC

• How much money conference will receive every year for next 6 years for 2019 performance: $5,606,000
• Total earnings over those 6 years: $33,636,000
• Teams in the 2019 tournament: 7
• Total units amassed in 2019 tournament: 20
• 2020 potential earnings lost over 6 years: $33,852,000

SEC

• How much money conference will receive every year for next 6 years for 2019 performance: $5,325,700
• Total earnings over those 6 years: $31,954,200
• Teams in the 2019 tournament: 7
• Total units amassed in 2019 tournament: 19
• 2020 potential earnings lost over 6 years: $32,159,400

Read More: States That Produce the Richest Athletes

Big 12

• How much money conference will receive every year for next 6 years for 2019 performance: $3,643,900
• Total earnings over those 6 years: $21,863,400
• Teams in the 2019 tournament: 6
• Total units amassed in 2019 tournament: 13
• 2020 potential earnings lost over 6 years: $22,003,800

American

• How much money conference will receive every year for next 6 years for 2019 performance: $1,962,100
• Total earnings over those 6 years: $11,772,600
• Teams in the 2019 tournament: 4
• Total units amassed in 2019 tournament: 7
• 2020 potential earnings lost over 6 years: $11,848,200

Pac-12

• How much money conference will receive every year for next 6 years for 2019 performance: $1,962,100
• Total earnings over those 6 years: $11,772,600
• Teams in the 2019 tournament: 4
• Total units amassed in 2019 tournament: 7
• 2020 potential earnings lost over 6 years: $11,848,200

Find Out: What Did This College Football Season Cost Universities?

Big East

• How much money conference will receive every year for next 6 years for 2019 performance: $1,401,500
• Total earnings over those 6 years: $8,409,000
• Teams in the 2019 tournament: 4
• Total units amassed in 2019 tournament: 5
• 2020 potential earnings lost over 6 years: $8,463,000

WCC

• How much money conference will receive every year for next 6 years for 2019 performance: $1,401,500
• Total earnings over those 6 years: $8,409,000
• Teams in the 2019 tournament: 2
• Total units amassed in 2019 tournament: 5
• 2020 potential earnings lost over 6 years: $8,463,000

OVC

• How much money conference will receive every year for next 6 years for 2019 performance: $1,121,200
• Total earnings over those 6 years: $6,727,200
• Teams in the 2019 tournament: 2
• Total units amassed in 2019 tournament: 4
• 2020 potential earnings lost over 6 years: $6,770,400

Look: Athletes Who Made More Money From Endorsements Than Their Contracts in 2020

Conferences With 2 Units

• How much money conference will receive every year for next 6 years for 2019 performance: $560,600
• Total earnings over those 6 years: $3,363,600
• Total units amassed in 2019 tournament: 2
• 2020 potential earnings lost over 6 years: $3,385,200

Conferences, with total teams in 2019 tournament:

• Atlantic 10: 2
• Atlantic Sun: 1
• Big West: 1
• Mid-American: 1
• Mountain West: 2
• Northeast: 1
• Southern: 1
• Summit: 1

Conferences With 1 Unit

• How much money conference will receive every year for next 6 years for 2019 performance: $280,300
• Total earnings over those 6 years: $1,681,800
• Total units amassed in 2019 tournament: 1
• 2020 potential earnings lost over 6 years: $1,692,600

Conferences:

• America East
• Big Sky
• Big South
• Colonial
• Conference USA
• Horizon
• Ivy
• MEAC
• Metro Atlantic
• Missouri Valley Conference
• Patriot
• Southland
• Sun Belt
• SWAC
• WAC

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Methodology: In order to discover what a March Madness run is worth to a university, GOBankingRates looked at USA Today’s “What’s an NCAA Tournament unit worth? Millions. Here’s how” and Washington Post’s “Fund and Games” to define the terminology and breakdown of how the NCAA distributes funds to its tournament teams. With this sourced, GOBankingRates found (1) how much money each school/university would have won for its conference every year for the next 6 years had the tournament not been canceled in 2020 because of COVID-19 and (2) the 6 year potential total of winnings for the conference. With the potential earnings of 2020 discovered, GOBankingRates used NBCSports and NCAA.com data to determine winnings from the 2019 tournament. For the 2019 tournament, GOBankingRates found; (3) how much money each school won for its conference every year for the next 6 years; (4) 6-year winnings for the conference; (5) how much money each conference will be rewarded for the next 6 years from the performance in the 2019 tournament; and (6) 6-year total winnings for each conference from the 2019 tournament. All data was collected on and up to date as of Nov. 23, 2020.

Photo Disclaimer: Please note photos are for representational purposes only.