The Columbia University women’s basketball team is almost an unknown in the national sports landscape. Now the Lions and other dreamers in the NCAA tournament championship known as March Madness are in the spotlight just like former national champions UConn, South Carolina, or Tennessee.
And this year, they’re getting paid to be there.
The star treatment this year goes beyond flights, hotel accommodations, and swag. For the first time, women’s teams are getting a share of the profits, a perquisite men’s teams have enjoyed for years.
“It should be this way,” says UNC Greensboro coach Trina Patterson. Her Spartans took a charter flight to play a game for the first time. “We are all playing in the same March Madness. The treatment for the men and women should be equal. We get a unit!”
Huh?
A unit is money paid to conferences when one of its teams appears in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament—from the First Four to the Final Four. A unit is basically a slice of the NCAA’s advertising and broadcasting income from the tournament.
The formula for units can be complicated. This year, each women’s team in the tournament gets a unit per game. The big pot contains about $15 million. Conferences will receive $113,000 for each game one of its women’s team plays in the tournament. Each conference has rules about how the money is divided among schools.
The NCAA has used this unit system to reward men’s teams in the NCAA Tournament since 1991.
Columbia reached the tournament last year. But neither the Lions nor the school received any money for the appearance.
“You got to start somewhere, and I think we’ve been so far behind,” says Columbia Lions coach Megan Griffith. “I think the cherry on top is going to keep coming, but this is really good so far.”
“It should have always been that way,” says William & Mary Tribe coach Erin Dickerson Davis. She was previously associate head coach at Wake Forest, an assistant at Georgetown, and has also coached at Towson, Illinois State, La Salle, and Furman. “I’ve been in this business for many, many years,” Davis says. “It’s a long time coming.”
It is the Tribe’s first trip to March Madness in either men’s or women’s basketball.
“Everyone is so excited about the experience,” Davis says.
The Tribe defeated the High Point Panthers 69-63 but lost to No. 1 seed Texas. The double appearance earned them two units.
Several Columbia Lions players agree with Davis’ statement about the experience. “It was cool going to the charter, and we’ve been taking it all in,” junior Perri Page says. She adds, “It’s great we can make money for the school now.”
The Lions won on Thursday night but lost on Saturday. Still, what a ride to get there—with a paycheck to top it off.
UNCG’s Coach Patterson’s 16th-seeded team enjoyed the comforts of a cross-country charter flight from Greensboro to Los Angeles. There the Spartans lost to No. 1-seeded Southern California in UNCG’s first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1998.
Patterson sees the bigger picture. The unit payouts, she says, are “great for women’s basketball.”
The laborer deserves his wages. — Luke 10:7
