In 2024, San Francisco County allocated $7,918,849 to men’s college basketball teams, a 5.1% increase compared with the previous year, data from the U.S. Department of Education shows.
Combined, all basketball programs in the county received $12,887,454 in funding, with men’s teams accounting for $7,918,849 of that total.
The average sports spending in San Francisco County has climbed 107.6% since 2010.
Alongside football, basketball ranks among the top college sports in the United States, with leading NCAA programs regularly drawing significant crowds and TV audiences sometimes comparable to the NBA. Events like March Madness draw millions of viewers each year.
The landscape of college athletics changed significantly after a federal settlement enabled schools to start sharing revenue directly with players for the first time. The settlement also obligates the NCAA to distribute $2.8 billion in back payments over a 10-year span to athletes from 2016 onward.
In 2022, following extended legal and policy changes, college athletes acquired the right to earn income from their names, images and likenesses through state regulations and NCAA amendments.
Basketball remains the primary revenue source for the NCAA, which reported generating about $900 million from March Madness and related Division I men’s basketball tournament media rights during the 2024 fiscal year.
| Year | Basketball team’s expenditures | % from grand total sport team expenditures | Total Sport Team Expenditures |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $7,918,849 | 17.1% | $46,339,317 |
| 2023 | $7,534,070 | 17.4% | $43,201,108 |
| 2022 | $6,520,819 | 16.7% | $39,040,753 |
| 2021 | $4,664,075 | 17.6% | $26,475,267 |
| 2020 | $5,611,564 | 15.3% | $36,642,730 |
Information in this story was obtained from the U.S. Department of Education. The source data can be found here.
