COVID-19: potential revenue loss per college for March Madness 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic at the beginning of 2020 hit the sports industry hard. Many leagues across the globe suspended their seasons, including the NCAA’s Division I men’s basketball tournament, also known as March Madness. This college basketball tournament is very lucrative for the NCAA and the teams that make it into the main event. The NCAA was due to pay each team 280,300 U.S. dollars per game played in 2020. As winning the tournament requires playing five games, the two teams that reached the final were in line to earn over 1.4 million U.S. dollars. The cancelation of this tournament has naturally led to the potential loss of this lucrative payday for successful schools.