Trinity University in San Antonio committed $433,135 to its women’s basketball program in 2024, which is $507,209 less than the Texas state average of $940,344, data from the U.S. Department of Education shows.
That total made up 4.9% of all athletic team spending at Trinity for 2024.
Trinity University has seen a 151.2% rise in overall sports-related spending since 2010.
Basketball ranks among the most popular collegiate sports in the United States alongside football, with leading NCAA teams regularly drawing significant fan attention and television viewership comparable to NBA games. Annual tournaments like March Madness attract millions of viewers.
College sports recently shifted to a new compensation era as the result of a federal settlement that permits schools to distribute revenue directly to athletes for the first time. The settlement also compels the NCAA to pay $2.8 billion in retroactive damages to athletes who competed from 2016 onward, over the next decade.
By 2022, following sustained legal and legislative effort, athletes were able to earn income using their names, images and likenesses thanks to both new state laws and changes in NCAA rules.
The NCAA earned approximately $900 million in fiscal 2024 from March Madness and associated Division I men’s basketball tournament broadcast rights, making basketball its top revenue-generating sport.
| Year | Basketball team’s expenditures | % from grand total sport team expenditures |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $271,839 | 5.4% |
| 2021 | $183,305 | 4% |
| 2022 | $292,426 | 5% |
| 2023 | $309,643 | 4.5% |
| 2024 | $433,135 | 4.9% |
