In 2024, the University of California-San Diego in La Jolla allocated $2,724,263 to its men’s basketball teams—$1,728,459 above the state’s average expenditure of $995,804, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education.
Men’s basketball accounted for 9% of the university’s total sports team spending in 2024.
The university’s overall sports spending has grown by 343.9% since 2010.
Alongside football, basketball remains one of the most popular collegiate sports in the United States, attracting significant television audiences and fan followings. Events such as March Madness draw millions of spectators annually.
College athletes now enter a new age of compensation after a federal legal settlement enabled schools to share revenue directly with players for the first time. Under the same agreement, the NCAA must pay $2.8 billion in back damages to qualifying athletes over a decade for competitions held since 2016.
Following extensive legal efforts, student-athletes also secured the right to benefit financially from their names, images and likenesses as of 2022 through legislative changes and NCAA reforms.
The NCAA reported approximately $900 million in revenue from March Madness and associated Division I men’s basketball media rights in fiscal year 2024, marking basketball as its chief revenue generator.
| Year | Basketball team’s expenditures | % from grand total sport team expenditures |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $1,668,692 | 6.7% |
| 2021 | $1,668,544 | 8.1% |
| 2022 | $2,437,331 | 9.4% |
| 2023 | $2,117,506 | 7.9% |
| 2024 | $2,724,263 | 9% |
Information in this story was obtained from the U.S. Department of Education. The source data can be found here.
