PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 John Calipari had, as usual, wandered off topic.<\/p>\n
Asked about mid-major basketball programs\u2019 scheduling frustrations, and what can be done to fix a system in which teams from power conferences aren\u2019t incentivized to play them, the second-year Arkansas coach detoured into a story about when he was coaching at UMass in the early 1990s. Briefly, he got back on track, crediting No. 12 seed High Point, his NCAA Tournament second-round opponent out of the Big South, for its commitment to being competitive.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt proves my point that coaches win games, administrations win championships,\u201d Calipari said. \u201cThey commit to it. Now, the coach has to be a good steward and has to make good decisions. But he can\u2019t do any of that if there\u2019s not enough support.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calipari reiterated that sentiment Saturday night after the fourth-seeded Razorbacks squeaked by the Cinderella-aspiring Panthers, 94-88, behind 36 points from freshman All-American Darius Acuff Jr.<\/p>\n
Calipari might as well have been channeling famous lyrics from the \u201990s, which express a universal truth that still rings accurate today in college sports: It\u2019s all about the Benjamins, baby.<\/p>\n
And The Athletic tracked down the receipts to prove it.<\/p>\n
The 16 teams still alive in the 2026 NCAA Tournament have all committed big bucks to men\u2019s basketball, led by overall top seed Duke, which spent more than $25.2 million on men\u2019s basketball in 2023-24, according to the latest (and most complete) publicly available data. That doesn\u2019t include the Blue Devils\u2019 name, image and likeness spending \u2014 essentially Duke\u2019s roster budget \u2014 which schools don\u2019t have to reveal publicly.<\/p>\n
Before we dig in further, a few more caveats: Schools and programs crunch numbers differently. Budgets fluctuate year-to-year, especially in an ever-evolving pay-to-play era (and even more when a new coach shows up on campus). Numbers can be squishy \u2014 and some are missing altogether, particularly with private schools. Still, the U.S. Department of Education database<\/a>, plus the USA Today coaches\u2019 compensation database<\/a>, private schools\u2019 990 tax forms and NCAA financial reports give us a good idea of how schools invest in hoops. Direct revenue sharing with athletes, which started July 1, isn\u2019t included in this data.<\/p>\n Another good comparison point to keep in mind: High Point, the school Calipari praised for being all in, which beat fifth-seeded Wisconsin out of the Big Ten in the first round, spent just $4.1 million on men\u2019s basketball.<\/p>\n Duke\u2019s spending is an outlier \u2014 on average, the Sweet 16 schools spent around $15.5 million on men\u2019s basketball. The Blue Devils\u2019 expenses were second nationally behind only Kentucky ($30.9 million).<\/p>\n Other Sweet 16 teams ranked in the top 20 nationally for expenses include Illinois (No. 8), UConn (No. 9) and Michigan State (No. 13).<\/p>\n St. John\u2019s, at No. 16, just outspends No. 17 Arizona ($16.65 million to $16.32 million), especially notable given that the Big East television contract is reported to be somewhere in the $80 million range and the Big 12\u2019s media deal \u2014 which, granted, includes football \u2014 is closer to $380 million. Michigan comes in at No. 20, spending $15.74 million.<\/p>\n In terms of return on investment, there\u2019s an argument to be made that no one is getting a bigger, or better, bang for their buck than Houston.<\/p>\n Kelvin Sampson has taken UH to eight straight NCAA Tournaments, reaching the national championship game last season and playing in the 2021 Final Four.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a remarkable run considering UH spends just over $12.5 million on basketball, one of the lowest amounts of all the Sweet 16 schools \u2014 it ranks No. 43 nationally, in fact. The only Sweet 16 programs that spent less were Nebraska, Iowa and Iowa State. In February, Sampson lamented UH\u2019s finances and their impact on his ability to sign more top prospects, saying the Cougars athletic department was \u201cvery poor.\u201d<\/p>\n The most recent NCAA financial reports detail where the gap shows up. For instance, Illinois spent more than twice as much on travel ($2.3 million) compared with Houston ($1.1 million), while lapping the Cougars in recruiting ($903,000 to $391,000), assistant coaching salaries ($2.9 million to $1.7 million) and general game-day expenses ($930,000 to $425,000).<\/p>\n Iowa State\u2019s $9.8 million in reported expenses was last among remaining teams and ranked 72nd nationally, about the same as Memphis, Virginia Tech and Seton Hall. To put that in context, UConn spent more than that ($11.4 million) on salaries for its coaching staff last season.<\/p>\n What Sweet 16 teams spend<\/p>\n TeamExpenses <\/p>\n $25.247M<\/p>\n $18.970M<\/p>\n $18.906M<\/p>\n $17.106M<\/p>\n $16.650M<\/p>\n $16.317M<\/p>\n $15.739M<\/p>\n $15.327M<\/p>\n $15.116M<\/p>\n $15.025M<\/p>\n $14.123M<\/p>\n $12.906M<\/p>\n $12.552M<\/p>\n $12.206M<\/p>\n $11.425M<\/p>\n $9.808M<\/p>\n Source: U.S. Department of Education (submitted for 2023-24)<\/p>\n Half of Sweet 16 ranks in top 16 nationally in revenue<\/p>\n Salaries take up the biggest chunk of school expenses; this year, the three highest-paid coaches still dancing are UConn\u2019s Danny Hurley ($8.375 million), Michigan State\u2019s Tom Izzo ($7.2 million) and Calipari ($7 million). Duke\u2019s Jon Scheyer is believed to have moved into that $7 million range, per industry speculation, after getting a major extension and raise in October. As a private school, Duke doesn\u2019t have to say.<\/p>\n Two coaches also have the distinction of having lifetime contracts<\/a> \u2014 Izzo and Tennessee\u2019s Rick Barnes \u2014 which means they can (theoretically) coach at their current school as long as they want.<\/p>\n Oh and about the only double-digit seed to make the Sweet 16: Eleventh-seeded Texas might seem like a Cinderella on the surface, at least considering that it started in the First Four, but it\u2019s one of the richest schools in the country with the biggest enrollment in the Sweet 16. The Longhorns are paying first-year coach Sean Miller $4.8 million this season and spent more than $15 million on basketball.<\/p>\n And speaking of blue bloods: Duke spends a lot of money because it makes even more.<\/p>\n Though Sweet 16 schools average just under $22 million each in revenue, Duke\u2019s unusual in that realm, too. The Blue Devils reported an eye-popping $44.8 million revenue, which was No. 1 nationally and $8.5 million ahead of second-place Illinois.<\/p>\n How much Sweet 16 teams bring in <\/p>\n TeamRevenue<\/p>\n $44.792M<\/p>\n $36.201M<\/p>\n $26.804M<\/p>\n $25.733M<\/p>\n $22.984M<\/p>\n $22.721M<\/p>\n $21.283M<\/p>\n $20.950M<\/p>\n $18.906M<\/p>\n $17.488M<\/p>\n $17.306M<\/p>\n $16.903M<\/p>\n $16.650M<\/p>\n $16.317M<\/p>\n $13.860M<\/p>\n $12.552M<\/p>\n Source: U.S. Department of Education (submitted for 2023-24)<\/p>\n Six of the other Sweet 16 teams also ranked in the top 16 in revenue, which comes from the likes of ticket sales, media rights and booster donations: No. 7 Tennessee, No. 8 Michigan State, No. 11 Texas, No. 12 Arkansas, No. 13 Alabama and No. 16 Michigan. Houston was the lowest nationally at No. 62, between Wake Forest and Texas A&M.<\/p>\n The ratios are comparable in the other biggest revenue sport. In both years of the 12-team College Football Playoff, half the field ranked in the top 14 in revenue.<\/p>\n Roster costs unknown<\/p>\n What players are actually making, including with NIL, is trickier.<\/p>\n Direct revenue sharing with athletes kicked in on July 1, which means coaches and collectives got creative in how \u2014 and when \u2014 they paid their rosters. As long as NIL checks were cashed by the end of June, it was perfectly legal for collectives to promise, and pay, players big money via NIL and then also get them cash from revenue sharing.<\/p>\n The combination of revenue share and front-loaded NIL deals led one assistant to describe this season to The Athletic as \u201cthe money-dump year,\u201d<\/a> saying \u201cwe will never see these numbers again.\u201d<\/p>\n Most high-majors expected to opt in and distribute the full $20.5 million to athletes, but the exact breakdown of which sport got how much won\u2019t be publicly known for a while, if ever (numerous high-major coaches told The Athletic last summer they expected to receive $4 million-$5 million rev-share from their athletic departments). Schools are getting creative to find ways to keep paying their athletes more than the cap<\/a>.<\/p>\n