In 2024, the University of Portland allocated $2,326,090 to women’s basketball, exceeding Oregon’s average team spending by $1,609,200, data from the U.S. Department of Education shows. The state’s average expenditure was $716,890.
This represented 10.7% of the school’s total athletics expenditures for that year.
Since 2010, overall spending on sports at the University of Portland has climbed by 112%.
Basketball is one of the most followed college sports in the United States alongside football, with major NCAA programs attracting fan turnout and TV viewership that can rival NBA games. Events like March Madness bring in audiences in the millions annually.
Rules around college sports have shifted, allowing for athlete compensation following a federal settlement that lets schools share revenue directly with players for the first time. The deal also compels the NCAA to pay $2.8 billion in damages over 10 years to athletes who played from 2016 on.
Athletes were also granted the ability to profit from their names, images and likenesses in 2022, after state laws and NCAA policy shifted under mounting legal and legislative pressure.
The NCAA took in about $900 million in revenue during its 2024 fiscal year from March Madness and related Division I men’s basketball media rights, making basketball the group’s leading revenue stream.
| Year | Basketball team’s expenditures | % from grand total sport team expenditures |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $1,895,642 | 10% |
| 2021 | $1,884,164 | 10.4% |
| 2022 | $2,188,604 | 10.4% |
| 2023 | $2,251,592 | 10.2% |
| 2024 | $2,326,090 | 10.7% |
Information for this article comes from the U.S. Department of Education. Access the underlying source data here.
