The University of Houston in Texas dedicated $2,951,028 to its women’s basketball teams in 2024, surpassing the state average spending of $940,344 by $2,010,684, data from the U.S. Department of Education shows.
This sum represented 3% of the university’s total athletic team expenditures for 2024.
The university’s overall sports-related spending has increased 213.4% since 2010.
Basketball remains one of the top college sports in the United States along with football, with popular NCAA events drawing large fan bases and TV viewership comparable to NBA games. Events such as March Madness capture millions of viewers annually.
College athletics has entered a new compensation era after a federal agreement enabled schools to distribute revenue directly to athletes for the first time. This settlement also obliges the NCAA to provide $2.8 billion in back pay over a 10-year span to athletes who played from 2016 onward.
By 2022, following sustained legal and legislative action, athletes secured the right to earn income from their name, image and likeness under new state laws and a shift in NCAA policy.
The NCAA reported generating around $900 million from media rights tied to March Madness and related Division I men’s basketball tournaments in fiscal year 2024, marking basketball as its largest source of income.
| Year | Basketball team’s expenditures | % from grand total sport team expenditures |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $2,324,673 | 3.5% |
| 2021 | $2,327,890 | 3.5% |
| 2022 | $2,844,619 | 3.6% |
| 2023 | $2,672,885 | 3.2% |
| 2024 | $2,951,028 | 3% |
