The University of Massachusetts-Boston spent $177,297 on its women’s basketball teams in 2024, $355,629 under the state average expenditure of $532,926, data from the U.S. Department of Education shows.
This expenditure represented 3.1% of the university’s total spending on all sports teams for 2024.
Total sports spending at the University of Massachusetts-Boston has risen 190.2% since 2010.
Basketball is among the most popular collegiate sports across the U.S. alongside football, with leading NCAA programs attracting strong fan bases and television audiences that compete with those of the NBA. Tournaments like March Madness draw millions of viewers annually.
College athletics has transitioned into a new era of athlete pay following a federal settlement that enables direct revenue sharing between schools and players for the first time. The agreement also mandates the NCAA pay $2.8 billion over 10 years in back damages to athletes who competed from 2016 onward.
Athletes in 2022 gained the right to earn income from their names, images, and likenesses, thanks to a combination of state legislation and changes to NCAA policy, following years of legal and political action.
The NCAA reported about $900 million in revenue from March Madness and related Division I men’s basketball tournament media rights in its fiscal year 2024, making basketball its largest revenue stream.
| Year | Basketball team’s expenditures | % from grand total sport team expenditures |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $167,017 | 4% |
| 2021 | $0 | 0% |
| 2022 | $89,455 | 3.7% |
| 2023 | $150,127 | 3.1% |
| 2024 | $177,297 | 3.1% |
Details for this report came from the U.S. Department of Education. Source data is available here.
