The NCAA has faced criticism for decades over its handling of playoff women’s sports. The governing figure held a second postseason game to tackle that disparity and perhaps capitalize on the business development, popularity, and popularity ushered in by Iowa star Caitlin Clark and many others as the sport’s attendance and viewership jump.
The formation of the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament ( WBIT ), which debuted earlier this month, is in response to the findings of the 2021 Gender Equity Report from Kaplan Hecker &amp, Fink LLP that found there were” sufficient and longstanding disparities” between the NCAA’s men’s and women’s basketball championships.
On the people’s area, the NCAA operates the NIT, having purchased right to it again in 2005. The NCAA does not work it; Triple Crown Sports does, but the long-standing WNIT did offer 64 women’s teams that were cut out of the NCAA Tournament a playoff option.

After the WBIT’s development, the WNIT cut up its normal 64 teams to a 48- group category this year. While the two games have the option of making offers to the same team, the majority of the WNIT industry (up to 32 clubs ) are offered automatic seats, which are offered to the highest-placed team in each conference that was not chosen for either the NCAA Tournament or the WBIT.
” The initial reaction is,’ Wow, this is a direct hit or impact to what we do and how we do it,'” Sarah Molina, basketball event director for Triple Crown Sports, said over the phone about the creation of another postseason tournament. We ca n’t control what happens in a changing landscape because, ultimately, no matter who does what and how we do it, we can.
When asked about the WBIT’s creation, Meghan Durham Wright, associate director of communications at the NCAA, stated that association members felt it was crucial to have the same number of men’s and women’s teams compete for a title across two competitions.
While the NCAA has been criticized in recent years for its treatment of the women’s NCAA Tournament compared to the men ‘s—leading to the 2021 equity report—Durham Wright does n’t believe the governing body’s investment in the WBIT comes at the expense of the women’s NCAA Tournament, she said via email. She continued, noting that the NCAA made an annual investment of$ 14 million following the 2022 expansion of the women’s tournament from 64 to 68 teams.
Denise Dillon, head coach of WBIT No. Villanova, the first seed, defended the NCAA’s decision to fund a new tournament and said it was” not taking a hit” that the NCAA would host games if they were to last until the semifinals.
The winning schools are not compensated by the participating schools in the WBIT, and neither are the winning schools ‘ prizes. However, there are some financial differences in terms of how the models are structured. The WBIT will cover all operating costs that have been approved and will keep all ticket sales.

” Currently, there are no distribution units for teams participating in the WBIT”, Wright wrote in an email. “NCAA members are currently developing potential models for those units and have prioritized creating a women’s basketball performance fund distribution for the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship.”
Unlike the men’s NCAA Tournament, which sees the governing body distribute more than$ 220 million in units to conferences, the women’s NCAA Tournament does not currently feature any payouts, and ticket revenue from women’s tourney games held on campuses goes to the NCAA.
The NCAA’s total revenue in 2023 was$ 1.29 billion, and it earned the majority of its money from the men’s basketball tournament and the media rights deal for it. The men’s NIT generated$ 8.4 million in revenue for the association last year, according to its FY23 tax return.
WNIT teams are allowed to keep their net income from their ticket sales, according to Triple Crown Sports ‘ Molina. Teams in the WNIT pay a game guarantee of$ 15, 000 to host the first and second rounds ($ 5, 000 for Round 1 and$ 10, 000 for Round 2 ).
Because the WNIT does not seed teams like the WBIT and women’s NCAA Tournament do, the hosts are not determined by seed. A committee creates the matchups in an effort to keep the region in mind and prevent competing teams from competing against one another in the same conference.
According to an NCAA source who was given anonymity because the agreement details are private, one hundred and seventy-seight programs signed agreements to participate in the 2024 WBIT if they were chosen. The 32-team field is chosen by a committee of five Division I women’s coaches and three former athletic administrators, but as is the case with the WNIT, teams can choose to decline the invitation.
The WBIT is broadcast exclusively on ESPN. The network and the NCAA reached an$ 820 million media rights agreement in January, which includes the WBIT and starts on September 1.
The WNIT does n’t have a TV deal, production costs of the championship game, which will air on CBS Sports, will be covered by Triple Crown Sports.
The WBIT semifinals and final will be played at Butler University’s Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind., on April 1 and 3 respectively.