SEC earns NCAA Tournament record money on historic March Madness run

No other conference has come close to what the SEC has accomplished in the NCAA Tournament.

As in football, the SEC has dominated in basketball, too, earning historic money on the heels of its NCAA Tournament run. | Matt Bush-Imagn Images

It’s not just football the SEC dominates. The conference also cleaned up on the court this year after sending 14 teams to the NCAA Tournament, setting an all-time college basketball record, and in the process secured a historic financial reward for all that success.

By winning 22 games in the national tourney, the SEC earned a total of $70 million in NCAA Tournament units, according to a report from Front Office Sports.

The units refer to reward money that the NCAA distributes to conferences based on their participation and success in the tournament.

And that figure is final, as it doesn’t count for victories beyond the Elite Eight stage, so the SEC is done making that money, despite making up two of the Final Four teams left in competition.

Running in second place was the Big Ten, which took home $42 million in NCAA Tournament units to distribute across its 18-team membership.

In third was the Big 12, which received $40 million in units, while the ACC and Big East collected $18 million each, although the ACC and Big 12 are still in the title hunt with No. 1 Duke and No. 1 Houston, respectively, in the Final Four.

A single NCAA Tournament unit is worth about $2 million and the body awards conferences one unit each for every team that makes the tournament as a non-automatic qualifier, and then adds another unit for every victory in the competition.

Conferences receive the total award money over the course of a six-year period and distribute the earnings to their member schools.

In total, the SEC secured 13 units that total $26 million by sending those 14 teams to the dance, and then added another $44 million by winning 22 games over the first four rounds, itself a record.

(Front Office Sports)

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