Is there big time money for the schools in the NCAA tourney?

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The fund operates on a unit system in which conferences receive one unit for every tournament game played by a conference member, not counting the championship game. Each unit has a six-year life, so conferences are paid according to how many units they’ve amassed over the previous six tournaments. In 2013 a unit is worth $245,514, which is what a conference will receive this year just by sending a single team to the first round.

But that unit becomes more valuable over its six year life. This year’s unit value is up from $242,204 in 2012, and next year’s per-unit payout is projected to be around $250,106. Using recent increases and future projections as a guide, we can estimate that the total six-year value of playing a tournament game in 2013 is more than $1.5 million. And that’s just the value of a single game played by one team.

If a team wins its first-round game, it doubles the six-year conference payout to more than $3 million. If it makes a run to the Final Four, thus appearing in five tournament games, it will earn its conference a massive $7.7 million over the next six years.

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I wonder if these teams have to share their money with the other teams in their conference like in football.

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