The Pac-12 doesn’t exist as a basketball entity, and none of the teams set to join in July remain alive in March Madness. But that won’t stop the cash from flowing to conference coffers this spring when the NCAA makes its annual distributions.
The Pac-12 will collect $15.4 million, with the money split between Washington State and Oregon State.
Not bad for two schools that posted a combined record of 29-36 this season and generated just a fraction of that total themselves.
But based on conference bylaws, they kept what the 10 departed schools generated in March Madness before they left for the ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten in the summer of 2024.
Here’s how it works:
• Each game played equates to one unit, and the units are paid out annually for six years at an increasing dollar amount. This year, the unit value is approximately $359,000. Over the current payout period, every unit is worth about $2.2 million over time.
• The NCAA distributes the cash to the conferences, which either divide the pot equally or use a performance-based model that allows participating teams to collect a higher percentage of what they earned.
• With realignment situations, the units earned by departing schools remain with the conference.
For example, Arizona generated three units in 2024 for reaching the Sweet 16. The Wildcats were finishing their final season in the Pac-12, so the $6 million they generated has remained with the conference. The six-year payout period for those units expires in the spring of 2030.
How much revenue can the Pac-12 expect from the NCAA units earned by the former schools?
First, here are the units generated annually year by the 12 legacy schools:
2021: 19
2022: 7
2023: 7
2024: 10
(The 2021 total is high because three teams made the Elite Eight.)
Next, here’s the total number of units to be paid out each spring using the rolling six-year distribution formula:
2026: 43
2027: 43
2028: 24
2029: 17
2030: 10
Finally, here are the approximate cash payouts over time, calculated by multiplying the number of units by their annual dollar amount.
(The value of individual units has been artificially high in recent years because of the COVID-related cancellation of the 2020 tournament. That shifts next spring when the six-year payout period spans the 2021-26 seasons.)
2026: $15.4 million (unit value: $359,000)
2027: $13.2 million ($308,000)
2028: $7.6 million ($317,000)
2029: $5.5 million ($326,000)
2030: $3.4 million ($335,000)
In addition to the decreasing value of each unit starting next spring, the Pac-12 will steadily lose the units earned in the early 2020s, thus diminishing the payouts.
However, the rebuilt conference will begin generating units of its own next March, and those will be added to the payout cycle starting in the spring of 2028.
Key point: None of the units generated by the incoming schools will follow them into the Pac-12.
All Gonzaga units, including those earned this month, will remain with the West Coast Conference, just as the units earned by Utah State, San Diego State, Boise State and Colorado State in recent years will remain with the Mountain West.
Once the Pac-12 comes online in 2026-27, it will be guaranteed at least one unit each year: The conference champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAAs.
And based on competitive trends, historical data and the selection process, the conference can reasonably expect one at-large bid every spring and perhaps two. (Gonzaga is a stalwart, while Utah State and San Diego State have become frequent participants.)
Adding an average of three units generated by the newcomers will increase the annual amounts shown above by approximately $950,000 starting in 2028.
However, the Pac-12 will implement a performance-based distribution model in which the participating schools keep 50 percent of what they generate, with the remainder split equally among the nine members.
If Gonzaga makes the Sweet 16 next season, for instance, those three units (one for each game played) will total about $5.8 million over time; the Zags will keep half.