The SEC Earned $70 Million During Men’s 2025 NCAA Tournament

Regardless of the result that comes out of Monday night’s National Championship game, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) will be the real winners of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

SEC Up $70 Million After 2025 March Madness

The conference was well represented during this year’s March Madness. 14 of the 16 possible SEC teams qualified for the big dance this year, which shatters the record of 11 set by the Big East back in 2011. They had both quality and quantity, as well, with two of the no.1 seeds and two no.2 seeds both coming from the conference.

Three of the four teams that participated in this year’s Final Four were from the SEC, and it will be Florida that represents the conference in the National Championship game.

But whether or not the Gators win the title, the SEC will come out as the winners this year. The conference is set to earn an estimated $70 million for their participation in the 2025 Match Madness bracket, which is paid out on a per-game basis.

Florida will play in the national championship over Auburn—but the SEC is happy either way seeing its historic hoops season continue.

A record 14 SEC teams made the men’s tournament and recorded 22 wins before the Final Four even began, earning the conference $70M.

— Front Office Sports (@FOS) April 6, 2025

The NCAA distributes cash to tournament participants for each game that they play. They come in the form of “units”, and there are 132 units available in total. Each unit is worth approximately $2 million, and SEC teams had played in 35 games leading up to the National Championship. That adds up to roughly $70 million that the conference has raked in over the span of the last two weeks, and will see an even bigger boost with the presence of Florida in the title game.

Units are paid out to the conferences over a span of six years, with payments starting a year after the tournament is played.

The $70+ million is by far the most that any conference has ever earned in any single tournament, blowing out the previous record of 25 units that was set by the ACC in 2016.

By comparison, the Big Ten finished second to the SEC in total units in 2025, coming in with a total of 21 ($42 million). The Big 12 wasn’t far behind at 20 units, and both the Big East and ACC had nine units.